To reach his fifth-grade classroom, Sully Cockrell spends three hours traveling between his parents’ home in Kilmarnock and the Dooley School in Richmond, a program for children with special needs. The van ride is long, but the payoff is huge: Sully, 11, no longer faces repeated suspensions for acting out if he gets overstimulated. Diagnosed with high-functioning autism, ADHD, anxiety and developmental delays, he has finally found a needed support system. Now Sully’s mother, Sara Cockrell, is on a mission to build that same sense of community for Northern Neck parents with neurodivergent children.
A lifelong Kilmarnock resident and owner of the Sara Brown Salon on Main Street, Cockrell has often felt alone and overwhelmed as she and her husband, Taylor, navigate their only child’s behavioral, social and educational challenges.
So last year, Sara started a support network called Neurounique NNK to bring caregivers together on the first Sunday of each month at Front Porch Coffee House. There, they can share their experiences, advice, tears and laughter…