Mental illness is difficult to talk about especially when children and family are involved, as Werribee’s Dr Monika Schott can attest.
“I had young children and they were seeing what you would describe as strange behaviour from family members, my brother being one of them,“ said Dr Schott of the incidents which occurred over a decade ago when her boys were aged 10 and 8.
“They were seeing behaviours coming out of a psychotic episode, schizophrenia, depression.“
Needing to explain what was happening to their uncle, Dr Schott searched for help.
“I began looking for books to help me chat with my children about that and I couldn’t find any,” said the writer and researcher who decided to take matters into her own hands and write one herself.
The result is ‘My Dad built me the best and wackiest cubby ever’ a story aimed at explaining mental illness to children which was published in September.
“It’s about a child and a father who set out to build a cubby house and the father becomes mentally unwell, so it’s a story about love and patience and compassion as the father recovers,” said Dr Schott of the book which was rejected by multiple publishers for not being marketable, but which has since resonated with children and adults alike, including former Australian of the Year, professor Patrick McGorry.
“Twenty years ago, we wouldn’t have seen a book like this. But every one of us will have somebody in our family that will suffer from periods of poor mental health, and Monika’s book is a way for younger children to learn about mental illness in a very optimistic and positive way,” said professor McGorry when launching the book.
While she was busy writing a book for others, Dr Schott still had to explain mental illness to her own kids.
“To be honest really, to explain what was happening in the brain and that we can’t see anything wrong with the brain but there is a chemical imbalance going on that you can’t see and it’s that imbalance that influences behaviours,” she said of the explanation she eventually settled on and which her boys understood.
As for her brother, medication and treatment have meant that these days ’he’s a functioning adult’ as Dr Schott puts it, as well as being an accomplished artist and now, the inspiration for a book.
“He likes it. It’s not a story about him. It’s a story about mental health that kids can relate too,“ she said.
‘My Dad built me the best and wackiest cubby ever’ is available now at: https://www.monikaschott.com/published-works
