AICAFMHA:
promoting mental health for young Australians
Australian Infant, Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health Association Ltd
ABN 87 093 479 022
Back to AICAFMHA Homepage / News in Brief Index / Issue #3.06
Date 7 April 2003
For immediate release
media release
SANE Australia
A national charity helping those affected by mental illness through campaigning, education
and research
?What do you do when your mum has schizophrenia..??
During National Youth Week (5-13 April), fifteen year-old Dan Halloran with SANE Australia will launch You?re Not Alone ? a cartoon-book he inspired to help children like him who have a parent diagnosed with a mental illness
Dan, a former Victorian Youth Ambassador says: ?My mum had a mental illness called schizophrenia, as well as breast cancer. I am not sure which one was worse, but I suppose they affect the person so badly it doesn?t matter.?
An estimated 30,000 young Australians have a close family member with a mental illness and many of these take on a primary care role. Anger, sadness, embarrassment, confusion, guilt, fear of unpredictable behaviour and conflicting emotions of love and resentment are some of the feelings young people have when their parent is mentally ill.
Dan says there were some very hard times with his mother, who recently lost her battle with breast cancer, ?Mum?s schizophrenia has robbed me of a lot of time other kids have with their mums?.
Young people need help to understand what?s going on because they ?still love the person with the illness and the person loves them?, said Dan.
Dedicated to Virginia (Dan?s mother), You?re Not Alone: A SANE Guide to Mental Illness for Children (aged 6-12) has been designed with the help of young people, including Dan and his family, who have a parent or family member with a mental illness, to explain the subject using cartoons and easy-to-read captions.
Dan Halloran will be available for comment at the launch event (see below for details). For further information or interviews contact SANE Australia on 03 9682 5933 or Dr Paul Morgan 0412 273 693.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------You are invited to the launch of
You?re Not Alone: A SANE Guide to Mental Illness for Children
9 April 2003, 6.00 PM
Group Room, ?The Court House?
Knox Community Health Service
Cnr Station Street and Burwood Highway, Ferntree Gully (Melway reference 74 C4)
You?re Not Alone: A SANE Guide to Mental Illness for Children
$9.00 plus postage and handling
Available from the SANE BookShop (www.sane.org)
or contact SANE on 03 9682 5933.
Back to AICAFMHA Homepage / News in Brief Index / Issue #3.06
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