Welcome to our online directory of resources and tools. ​Our goal is to reduce stigma, by educating the community and empowering caretakers. 

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We believe we can move mountains towards a higher level of compassion and care for individuals who live with neurological diseases that we currently label, severe mental illnesses or SMIs, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, etc.

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SMIs are medical conditions like cancer, diabetes, and other illnesses. They are neurological diseases that are caused first and foremost, by inherited DNA and biological differences. These differences can have an impact on the human body, including metabolic and immune dysfunction, nutrient deficiencies, mitochondrial issues, increased oxidative stress and inflammation, etc. They are complex, chronic, and progressive illnesses. And they are treatable!

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In 1887, a German psychiatrist named Emil Kraepelin, was the first to describe the symptoms of what we now call schizophrenia. He used the term "dementia praecox", which translates to "early dementia". What makes it more interesting is that his first thoughts on this illness were that it was a progressive and irreversible brain disease that primarily affected young adults.

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137 years later, we are now seeing a shift back to redefining schizophrenia and potentially other SMIs, as brain diseases. And more recent research is demonstrating to us that it may be possible to reverse the early damage done by psychosis. But, we are still learning and need more research to be done.

 

For individuals who do not have the direct experience of navigating how to help a loved one get better, the detail of how these illnesses are perceived may not seem significant. But, for those of us who live through it, we see examples every day that show how much impact perceptions and labels can have.