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Kelley Kupfer, RN,
President and Co-Founder
Rancho Sante Fe, CA. 

Kelley Kupfer and her husband David spent seven years searching for answers before their youngest son was diagnosed with early onset bipolar disorder. A registered nurse, she and her physician husband spent those years in turmoil and frustration, visiting doctor after doctor to patch together a diagnosis. They felt helpless.

It wasn’t until Kelley found a small online community of parents of bipolar children that she started to put the pieces together. A doctor specializing in the disorder confirmed that their son had early-onset bipolar disorder. Thus began the trial-and-error process of finding medicine to help him. It took two years and almost 20 medications before he was stable. Now a healthy 15 year-old, their son goes to school, plays baseball and has many friends. He has difficult days, but primarily, he lives a normal life.

As Kelley navigated through medical and children’s services to diagnose and treat her son, she was struck by the lack of resources for parents of bipolar and related spectrum disorder children. She vowed to establish a resource organization that would educate and provide support to families and children facing the disorder. 

After meeting Mary Ann McDonnell, they found that they had the same dream, and together, they launched S.T.E.P. UP 4 Kids in 2004.