When Christine Kelly enrolled in the Family-to-Family education course for relatives dealing with mental illnesses in 2012, she thought it was for her nephew. It turned out, it was for her daughter.
At the time, Leannah was a Grade 10 student and began verbalizing grandiose ideas like graduating early and figure skating six times a week to win her upcoming competition. But by the end, Kelly says she couldn’t complete her exams and had difficulty standing upright to skate.
Unable to sleep and suffering from low energy and high anxiety, Leannah developed an eating disorder and fell into a deep depression which left her struggling to process thoughts and feed herself.
She dropped out of school in the spring of 2013.
“I was wondering how long this will go on, will she recover, will she be able to function as a regular teenager,” Kelly explains. “This sickness is going to define her life.” Since then, Leannah has received proper care, found the right medication and graduated. Now, Kelly teaches the program and her daughter shares her story hoping to reach other families that are struggling as they were..
The 12-session intensive course starts on Feb. 6 and runs until April 24 on Tuesday evenings at Sea to Sky Community Services, 38024 Fourth Avenue. Featuring first-person instructors, the free program covers mental illnesses, medications and side effects, empathy and communication, problem-solving skills, self-care and advocacy.
“When your loved one cannot step up to the bat for themselves, you do it for them,” Kelly explains, using examples like attending doctors appointments or navigating difficulties getting into the system for treatment. Self-care is important to avoid burnout and deteriorating personal wellness.
“Being able to let your hair down and actually speak, knowing what you say will be held in confidence is great,” she says, acknowledging there’s work to do at erasing stigma and raising awareness. “If somebody has a broken leg, we put it in a cast and we rehab that leg,” she says.
The course is hosted by Pathways Serious Mental Illness Society, formerly known as the North Shore Schizophrenia Society who rebranded to better represent services provided from the Sea to Sky Corridor to the Tri-Cities and Vancouver, according to Cheryl Zipper, the chair of the education committee and program instructor. Written by the National Alliance For Mental Illness out of the U.S. in the 90s, the course is now international and as of 2014 boasted over 300,000 family members graduated.
“When a serious illness hits your family, it’s a traumatic event,” Zipper says. “They are able to move forward with their loved one in a way that maybe they couldn’t before.”
That’s exactly how Erin Noel felt after taking the course last year, hoping to better understand her partner’s undiagnosed behaviours. “Even after a couple of sessions I noticed an improvement in myself,” Noel says. “I no longer felt so isolated and alone.”
Learning problem solving and recognizing what was out of her control was a relief, she says. Noel encourages people to try a support group on the second Thursday of each month, run by Kelly. “I think the program itself is an incredible opportunity for families to gather and share their troubles but also their successes.”
For more information or to register, contact Kathryn at 604-926-0846 or visit www.northshoreschizophrenia.org.
