Navigating mental illness in children and its impact on parenting
This coming Tuesday, 21 November at 7:00PM, please join us for a free community mental health presentation, Navigating mental illness in children and its impact on parenting: Struggles, Hopes & Triumphs led by the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education in collaboration with the Community Education Service (through AHS’s Mental Health Collaborative) and the Perlin Foundation for Wellbeing. Register
Bringing depth and dimension to the mental health conversation for families
This conversation between Dr. Paul Arnold and Jan Stewart is designed to support the lived experiences of parents with children affected by mental illness.
Dr. Paul Arnold is the inaugural Director of The Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education at the University of Calgary. The Mathison Centre is dedicated to advancing research and education on early identification, treatment and prevention of mental illness. Dr. Arnold’s research focuses on how genetic and environmental risk factors interact to influence the development of child-onset psychiatric disorders, particularly obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Following extensive collaboration with colleagues and policy experts from the Mathison Centre and the O’Brien Institute of Public Health, Dr Arnold is featured in a recent video, Recommendations for a comprehensive youth mental health strategy in Alberta with Dr. Paul Arnold. (To find out more about Paul’s work, see Paul Arnold Lab)
Jan Stewart is a parent with lived experience raising two children with multiple mental health disorders. She is currently chair of the board at Kerry’s Place Autism Services, Canada’s largest autism services provider, and previously served as Vice Chair at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). In addition, she co-founded the OCD Parent Advisory Group at SickKids Hospital. Her book, “Hold On Tight: A Parent’s Journey Raising Children With Mental Illness” captures and shares her insights and lived experience with the mental health community, particularly parents.
“While it took time to find the right doctors, diagnoses and treatments, Jan’s roller coaster journey with the children’s multiple mental health disorders taught her to insist on an integrated partnership approach with all those involved and propelled her to help parents of children with similar challenges. Her book gives readers invaluable insights and advice to become empowered and inspires them to persevere and never give up.” (source)
Her roles as author and hope ambassador have resulted in appearances on multiple podcasts, presenting at mental health events and conferences, contributing to magazines as an expert author, and being a guest for a range of shows for her advice to parents of children with mental health disorders, mental illness, and neurodivergence.
