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A Plan of Action for COD (co-occurring disorders*): The Harris Project

*mental health challenges plus and substance misuse or addiction

What comes first: substance use or mental health challenges? It can happen either way.

Adolescence is a time of change and challenge. It is also during this time that most mental health disorders arise. In fact, 22% of teens 13-18 have a diagnosable mental health and/or addictive disorders, and 50% of all cases of mental health disorders arise by the age of 14 and 75% by the age of 24 (MHFA.org).
We 3 Moms have been there. We share our family story in books and in this podcast, to help others.

Our guest has the same mission - to turn heartache into action, and to honor her son. She was recently featured in the NY times, and she’s here with us today.

Stephanie Marquesano, mom of Harris (who died at age 19 and had a COD, or co-occuring disorder), is founder and president of the project named for him - with a mission to change the way these two conditions are noticed and treated.

We ask:

• Tell us about Harris. If you had to tell the story of his life before the illness and after the illness in five minutes what would you want us most to know?
• Early signs: you said in NY times “He was crawling out of his own skin half the time.” - is there anything you wish you had known, anything you wish someone else had known or done?
• Can you share your journey to find psychological and psychiatric help?
• The combination of substance abuse and mental illness often co-occurs, and yet... not treated together . Talk to us about the “addiction treatment nonsystem” and what should replace it.

CODA goals include:

• Increased awareness and understanding of co-occurring disorders for youth.
• Increased early intervention for mental health challenges and substance misuse leading to a decline in incidence of youth mental health crises, drug misuse, addiction and overdose.
• Increased likelihood that those already impacted by co-occurring disorders will seek help and support.
• Raise a generation without the stigma typically associated with mental health challenges/substance misuse.
• Encourage youth to positively impact their peers/communities by building connections to each other and being a link to resources.

LINKS:

https://theharrisproject.org/Twitter: @theharrispro

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theharrisprojectCOD/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theharrisprojectcod/

Mindy and her book: https://mindygreiling.com/

Randye and her book: https://benbehindhisvoices.com/

Miriam and her book: https://www.miriam-feldman.com/

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Join our facebook page
Our websites:
Randye Kaye
Mindy Greiling
Miriam (Mimi) Feldman

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As a psychiatrist and system administrator who grew up with a mother with schizophrenia, Dr. Gary Tsai offers an insider’s perspective on the process of seeking care for serious mental illnesses, informed by both firsthand personal and expert professional experiences.

Dr. Tsai is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker and author, physician who is board certified in psychiatry and addiction medicine, and the director of the largest substance use system in the nation.

We’ll talk about his story, his documentary called Voices , and the tips in his his new book titled Against All Odds , including:

• How to approach impacted loved ones and resistance
• Understanding behavioral health systems, policies, programs, laws, practitioners, and payers
• Identifying a good clinician or care team
• Being an effective advocate
• ... And much more.

Against All Odds offers tools and strategies to navigate the recovery journey and will reshape your understanding of serious mental illness and behavioral health systems!

LINKS:

http://voicesdocumentary.com/film/

www.AgainstAllOddsToday.com

Mindy and her book: https://mindygreiling.com/

Randye and her book: https://benbehindhisvoices.com/

Miriam and her book: https://www.miriam-feldman.com/

Hosts:

Who:

Randye Kaye - was a morning Radio Personality bringing humor to CT families when her own son was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Now she is still a Broadcaster, Actress, Voice Talent, Speaker, and Author (“Ben Behind his Voices”)

Miriam Feldman - is an artist, writer, and the mother of an adult son with schizophrenia. Her book, "He Came in With It" chronicles her family's story and was released to rave reviews on July 21st, 2020.

Mindy Greiling - Mindy Greiling was a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives for twenty years. She helped found the nation's first state mental health caucus, which successfully lobbied for a significant increase in Minnesota's mental health funding Her acclaimed memoir is “Fix What You Can.”

Want to know more?
Join our facebook page
Our websites:
Randye Kaye
Mindy Greiling
Miriam (Mimi) Feldman

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In this episode, we talk with our own daughters about the lived experience of the sibling when schizophrenia hits the family. The emotional toll on this group of family members is often swept aside in the wake of the crises involved in SMI. We give them a chance to speak.

Guests: Our Daughters - Angela, Lucy and Ali

PAST:

1. What was it like for you growing up, as your sibling’s illness began?
2. When did you start suspecting something was wrong?
3. Did you second guess any things your parents were doing for him?
4. Did you resent your brother for needing your parent(s) so much? Did you resent your parent(s)? And how did you work through that? (Kathy Day asked)

PRESENT:

1. What is hardest for you about your brother's illness?
2. How do your friends feel about him? How do they best support you?
3. Has your life changed in any positive ways because of your brother?
4. Do you see yourself as a mental health advocate? If so, how?
5. What is it like now? Where are you on the “graph of emotions?
6. Do you feel cheated that your mom spends more time with sick sibling? (Cindy Grossman asked - fb)
7. Do you fear that you could also become schizophrenic at any given time? Or your kids? (Kathy Burchett, fb)
8. Do you feel guilty that he got sick instead of you?? (Laura Pogliano)

FUTURE:

1. What are your major worries about when we parents aren't around to be front-line advocates for your brother?

2. What do you see yourself being able to do and what will you need help with?

3. What help do you hope will be in place?

Final question: What do you most want other relative groups - particularly parents - to know about your experience as a sibling of someone with SZ? How can we best be of help to you?

Links for mentions:

NAMI Family-to-Family

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Randye Kaye
Mindy Greiling
Miriam (Mimi) Feldman

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We talk a lot about the emotional stress and shock of caring for someone with SMI, but what about the financial shock? Is debt an issue? How does your loved one handle money? How do you get services? Do the wealthy have better support? Do families have to go broke to have support, and what is the additional emotional effect of money on the family mental health?
Savannah Price, in the UK, is doing research on this - and today we turn the tables and let her interview us.
Savannah is building a company to improve the mental and financial resilience of young people with mental health problems by targeting the vicious cycle between money management and poor mental health.

We talk about:

• financial shocks
• the vicious cycle between poor mental health and dysregulated spending
• financial literacy
• Family responsibility
• And look at another, international, health system of “care”

About Savannah:

Savannah is originally from South Africa, but moved to the UK for university. She started her career as a geologist before launching an Equestrian competition and sales business in Ireland. She most recently completed her MBA at the University of Oxford and is starting a company in Mental Health.
She has a strong history of mental illness and disability in her family - she has a sister with schizophrenia, another with bipolar and her youngest sister has autism with significant learning disabilities.
Given her lived experience, she is currently doing research into how money and mental health are interrelated, and how having serious mental health problems impacts families financially and emotionally.
Not only do many mental health problems result in financial strain for young people and their families, but ultimately the breakdown of supporting relationships over time.
To address these problems, we are working to develop personal “relapse signatures” for young people who suffer from dysregulated financial behaviours due to mental health problems such as personality disorders, bipolar, psychosis, depression, anxiety, gambling, substance use disorders and ADHD.
We do this by overlaying spending patterns with other data you can get from a mobile phone, to track symptoms of poor mental health.
This then allows us to tailor products and services according to their goals/needs, and improve wellbeing, both financial and otherwise.
What it can also do, is give their loved ones insight into our users' mental and financial state in real-time, to flag risk and possibly intervene before there is a crisis - all the while advocating for agency and empowerment. Our mission is to blaze the trail for preventative healthcare through behavioural finance.

If anyone wants to learn more or to get involved with the research and product design - they are more than welcome to reach me on [email protected], or my LinkedIn.

Want us to cover a topic? Facebook page @Schizophrenia3Moms

Randye Kaye -Broadcaster, Actress, Voice Talent, Speaker, and Author (“Ben Behind his Voices”,

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Our websites:
Randye Kaye
Mindy Greiling
Miriam (Mimi) Feldman

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A Just Us Episode

1. Can Families Help Prevent Tragedy? “The family of the gunman who killed 18 people last week in Maine contacted police with concerns about his mental health and access to guns more than five months before the massacre, according to their local sheriff.”

Listen to families!!!!

TIME magazine:

Five months before the deadliest mass shooting in Maine’s history, the gunman’s family alerted the local sheriff that they were becoming concerned about his deteriorating mental health while he had access to firearms, authorities said Monday.

1. The Harris Project (see Episode 53) and the national PSA film, “You Don’t Know the Half of It,”

The film will be shown to policymakers in Washington, DC and has the support of social media influencers. the harris project hopes the film not only raises awareness for co-occurring disorders but also jumpstarts system transformation nationwide.

1. A listener asks: What is your relationship like with your son — NOW?

“How was it before he was sick — not how was he - but how were you all as mother and son? How has it changed? How are you mother and son now?

I’d love to hear how you three women have learned to cope specifically with this - not the medicine, the addictions, the system, policies, laws, judicial system, stigmas - but how did you live through this and cope with the loss?”

Mindy and her book: https://mindygreiling.com/

Randye and her book: https://www.randyekaye.com/

Miriam and her book: https://www.miriam-feldman.com/

Want to know more?
Join our facebook page
Our websites:
Randye Kaye
Mindy Greiling
Miriam (Mimi) Feldman