Randye Kaye at UMU

From the UMU website…

ALLIANCE, Ohio — Randye Kaye, author of Ben Behind His Voice: One Family’s Journey from the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope, discussed mental health awareness on Wednesday, October 3 at the University of Mount Union.

Kaye’s lecture was presented by Mount Union’s Department of Psychology.

Many times people only hear of extreme cases of schizophrenia and automatically associate schizophrenia with murderers, but Kaye’s book shines a light on those who live with schizophrenia and live successful lives. Kaye hopes to replace stigma with respect and empathy and shed a light on families becoming partners. Kaye shared that one in four families struggle with mental illness in a loved one.

According to Kaye, families go through trauma and live through stages of acceptance. Through sharing Ben’s story, she outlined the steps she took and when she finally realized he had a serious mental illness. Kaye recommended NAMI, National Alliance of Mental Illness, for families to get information. That was where Kaye received education about her son and what steps to take to towards his recovery.

“Recovery is not just medication,” Kaye stated.

Kaye articulated that families are a large part in recovery and what they need when they are faced with mental illness through the acronym, S.E.A.R.C.H. SEARCH stands for support, education, acceptance, resilience, communication skills and hope and humor.

Kaye encouraged the audience to give hope to families and encouraged the families who are facing a similar story to be there for their loved one.