Looking for Parents to Interview for My New Book

I am just starting work on my latest book project -- a book for parents who have children who are struggling with depression, anxiety, and other types of mental health issues including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.  I also intend to write about the struggles faced by children and youth with ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, eating disorders, and children who have experienced trauma.

The book will be published by HarperCollins Canada in Fall 2014.

I am looking to interview approximately 50 to 75 Canadian parents for this book. Specifically, I am looking to interview parents who have at least one child who has struggled with some sort of mental health issue and who are eager to offer support to and/or share what they have learned with other parents.

The interviews will be conducted between mid-April and late June via a series of eight questionnaires (consisting of approximately 10 questions each)  that will cover such topics as obtaining a diagnosis, advocating for your child (and teaching your child self-advocacy skills), parenting a child with a mental health issue, and caring for yourself and the rest of your family. The questionnaires can be completed at your own pace so that you can work them around your family's busy schedule.

Each parent who completes at least 75% of the questionnaires will be acknowledged in the book's acknowledgments (with his/her permission). He/she will also receive a signed copy of the book and be invited to book-related events when the book is launched in Fall 2014. 

This book is important to me because I have lived through much of what I will be writing about. All four of my children have dealt with one or more of the issues that fall underneath the mental health umbrella. My daughter has written about her struggles with an eating disorder and depression. My three sons struggled with ADHD during their growing up years. My youngest son has Asperger's. And I am living with -- and mostly thriving with -- Bipolar II.

If you think you might be interested in participating in this project, please get in touch. 

I am also interested in hearing from mental health researchers who would like to flag their latest child/youth mental health research for me and any Canadian mental health-related organizations who would like to have a conversation about what their organizations can bring to this project.

Thanks.

Ann Douglas
Author
annmdouglas [ at ] gmail.com 

Another Reason Why Babies -- and Parents -- Lose Sleep

When babies are learning new things, they may miss out on sleep. That's the conclusion of a study I write about in today's Toronto Star. I interviewed eight parents, a sleep expert, and an expert in infant development.

Unfortunately, my article was too long and some of the wisdom that the parents shared with me had to be cut from the original article. Rather than allow those bits of wisdom to be lost, I thought I'd share their experiences via this blog.

I think I'm going to start doing this more often -- sharing outtakes from some of my articles. Some really good stuff gets lost on the editing room floor. What's more, I really appreciate the time parents spend sharing their experiences with me and I don't want their contributions to be lost.

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Ambrozinio

Anyway, here's what the parents who didn't end up being quoted in the article had to say:

“Max (8 months old) is definitely working on crawling. He’s still not sleeping through the night and his sleep seems to have gotten worse lately.”
- Michelle Williams, mother of three, St. John’s, Newfoundland

“Eli was a fairly good sleeper up until age six months. Lately, he’s been up twice, if not three or four times, each night. He just started crawling this week.”
- Laura Kohoko, mother of four, Toronto

“There definitely have been some challenges with sleep. From the time Charlotte was 8 months to about 9 ½ months, she was very fussy at night.”
- Mike Reynolds, father of two, Ottawa

“Once Erik had crawling down pat, his sleep improved for a while. Now he’s learning to walk and he’s quite obsessed about that and back to waking up more in the night.”
- Kim Winiski, mother of two, Calgary