Schizophrenia: Three Moms in the Trenches

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Guest: Laura M . Brancato, Esq. - Elder Law And Vulnerable Client Specialist “As an attorney and an advocate, my mission is to provide specialized legal advice and support to families with vulnerable loved ones. With a focus on mental health, special needs, elder law, substance abuse disorders and related ma...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Guests: Natasha Williams and Liz  Sjaastad Natasha Williams  -The Parts of Him I Kept: The Gifts of My Father's Madness  (Natasha’s book) is an intimate account of a daughter’s coming of age in the face of her father’s schizophrenic unraveling. Williams investigates the limits of our medical and cultura...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Guest: Regina Graham, MD (she/her) Medical Director of Early Psychosis Programs, Health Sciences Clinical Professor UC Davis School of Medicine According to the National Institute of Mental Health , nearly one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness ( 52.9 million people in 2020). While People of Colo...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Letters…we get letters…well, actually emails, comments, and messages. In this episode we do our best to respond with perspective, information and resources. Please know that we are not doctors, cannot prescribe medication - nor do we know all the legalities and resources in each state or country (hello, inte...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Actionable strategies for these family members and friends who give so much but whose needs and sacrifices are often unappreciated. Written by clinical psychologist Dr. Michelle Sherman and her mother, DeAnne Sherman, an advocate and educator, the book provides: • Tools to cope with difficult emotions • Stra...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Guests:  Robert C. Smith, MD and  Vinod Srihari, MD,  Every day, millions of Americans face untreated mental health challenges—and too often, their first point of contact is a medical doctor unequipped to help. Most physicians - and many others who teach and advise youth - aren’t trained to recognize or trea...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Eric J Dias is no stranger to the struggles people with addiction and severe mental illness experience. He has lived with schizoaffective disorder since he was a teenager. Eric has been a tireless advocate for people with SMI and their families.  He writes about the many issues and emotions associated with S...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Returning Guest: Brian Stettin. NYC City Hall’s senior advisor on severe mental illness. In Episode 61, we interviewed Brian Stettin, senior advisor to the Mayor Eric Adams administration on severe mental illness. Brian drafted the legislation that became Kendra's Law when he was an assistant attorney g...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! GUEST: Darrell E. Herrmann WANT THE TRANSCRIPT? CLICK HERE Millions of Americans are affected by psychosis, a condition that includes schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression. One man, Darrell Herrmann , is sharing his story in an effort to help others who may be diagnosed with similar conditions. Her...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Guests: Angela and Michael Brisbin (plus 3 Moms updates and we read some Fan mail!) INTO THE LIGHT Meaningful Recovery From Psychosis, a 60 minute documentary discusses how to  achieve Meaningful Recovery from Serious Mental Illness with education, medication and advocacy.   A message of hope and real help,...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Welcome to this episode, where we explore a deeply personal and often complex topic: the choice to have relatives with severe mental illness live at home with family. Joined by listener guests, we dive into the emotional, practical, and ethical aspects of this decision. Is home the best place for healing and...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Guests:  Robert S Laitman, MD, Mimi Liu, Doro Mind At Doro Mind. the mission is to provide compassionate, accessible, and dynamic care and support for individuals suffering from psychosis and their caregivers. Dr. Robert Laitman is a psychiatric internist dedicated to changing the treatment paradigm for psyc...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Guests: Suzy DeYoung, Catherine Galda, Trauma Informed Parent  When parents are Trauma Informed they are better equipped to help their children heal - and to take care of themselves. Trauma Informed Parent offers information, resources and perspective for parents and caregivers of children, teens and young a...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! But Where Can They Live? : Housing for Those with SMI  (Ep. 105) Guests: Lynda Kaufmann, Psynergy Programs Ellie Skelton, Touchstone Mental Health Housing:  Access to affordable and supportive housing remains limited. Individuals with mental illnesses are significantly more vulnerable to housing instability...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! The Neverending Cycle: Crisis, Coping, Advocacy (Ep. 104) Guest: Rachel Streiff: Mental Health Advocate, Mentor to SMI Caregivers, NAMI F2F talks about the the emotional stages for families: Crisis, Coping, Advocacy Unfortunately, like a game of chutes and ladders, you can cycle back at any time. Only thing...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Amazing Grace: Single Mother, Adult Son with Schizophrenia, Award-Winning Short Film (Ep. 103) Guest: Aiden Keltner, Filmmaker Based on the true stories of many families, Amazing Grace tells the story of a single mother caring for her adult son with schizophrenia. Aiden Keltner is the filmmaker, and did some...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Guest: Lindsay Mary Galvin Rauch, Mental Health Advocate/Speaker “ I draw inspiration from my upbringing with ten older brothers, six of whom bravely fought schizophrenia. Sharing my story and journey can make a positive impact. Let's break the stigma together.” Many years ago, Lindsay Mary and her sist...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Please note: if you write us “Fan mail”  (thanks! )- please include some contact info (email is best) if you want a reply. Guest: Ken Duckworth, NAMI Chief Medical Officer Ken Duckworth’s journey into psychiatry started when he was a boy growing up with a dad who experienced severe bipolar disorder. His fath...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Guest: Kody Green, patient advocate Kody lives with schizophrenia and is a motivational speaker/content creator with over a million followers on TikTok alone ( @schizophrenichippie ). He has also overcome struggles with drug addiction and incarceration, which he shares information about on his platform. To b...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! What Will Happen When We’re Gone? Trusts, Pooled Trusts and More-Ep. 99 Guest: Megan Brand,  Colorado Fund for People with Disabilities Executive Director Dani Page, JD (her other episodes with us are Episodes 50 and 70) In its simplest form, a Trust is a relationship, in which one person holds title to prop...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Purpose, Belonging, Community: Starting and Opening an International Clubhouse for People with MI -Ep. 98 A New International Clubhouse in Minnesota, USA! Guests: Karina Forrest Perkins , Chad Bolstrom, Vail Place  Nishi and Margaret, Members Vail Ramsey County Clubhouse in MN, USA had a huge turnout for its...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! Guests : Laura Balboni Craciun, Policy Director National Shattering Silence Coalition, MA, and Arundati (Arun) Nagendra, Ph. D. At the recent  S&PAA conference (Mindy ) and at the Johns Hopkins schizophrenia symposium (Mimi and Randye)  , as well as on our Facebook page, many families tell us their stori...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! “Guest Mom” Laura Pogliano The Johns Hopkins Schizophrenia Symposium brings together world-renowned experts in psychiatry, mental health, and neuroscience in order to present diverse aspects of the disorder, discuss their findings with colleagues, and be available to answer attendees’ questions.  This year,...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! No One Cares About Crazy People is a feature documentary film-in-progress about the tragedy, crisis and chaos of severe mental illness in America – and a burgeoning national crusade to do something about it NO ONE CARES ABOUT CRAZY PEOPLE takes us inside the tragedy, chaos, and crisis of severe mental illnes...

Send a Text to the Moms - please include your contact info if you want a response. thanks! “Chris had a "tumultuous" time several years ago, dealing with the onset of schizoaffective disorder, but has overcome addiction and homelessness and established stability for himself, while also being an extremely productive artist. His artist name, as well as his social media handle, is xoradmagi...