Please consider participating in a book project that illustrates—through stories of your lived experiences—the challenges and rewards of living with and/or caring for a loved one with a mental health diagnosis. If you are a parent, child, sibling, or partner of someone with a mental illness, your story is needed!
Interviews will be collected into a book-length university course reading to be published by Lived Places Publishing for students in mental health profession programs. The book will illustrate challenges families face in accessing necessary mental health resources and in ensuring loved ones are effectively treated. Understanding the role family members play in a loved one’s well-being is crucial to appropriate care.
If you choose to participate in this project, you will be contacted to schedule a one-hour interview with the book’s author, Janice Airhart. As the daughter of a mother diagnosed with schizophrenia, Airhart understands the difficulty of discussing mental illness but recognizes how important it is for families to make their voices heard. Her 2022 memoir, Mother of My Invention, describes a lifelong journey to discover who her mother might have been if she hadn’t become ill.
Prior to interview, you will complete a “Consent to Participate in Interview Research” form and you will be provided a copy of the general interview questions. (All names will be changed to protect your family’s confidentiality.)
To participate, please contact me at janairhart@gmail.com before May 15, 2025 to be considered for interview. See Lived Places Publishing at livedplacespublishing.com to view their catalog.
Janice Airhart 