My name Faith Lyria, AKA Laura Lavington. I am glad to share my writing journey which began with my passion to create awareness and fight the stigma surrounding mental health in our society.
I have experienced this first hand, having come from a family that has been genetically hit by one of the most severe and rare mental illness, Schizophrenia. When my brother who was a genius got unwell while waiting for his final exams in high school, I did not understand much. I was young. All I knew then, was that he was a genius. I saw him struggle through university, in and out of hospital. Even though he graduated with very impressive grades, the disease robbed him of his peace and he could not settle to work without getting a relapse.
He ended up under the care of the family. Unfortunately, my younger sister, who was equally a quick wit became schizophrenic while in university. I remember when we received the news that she had disappeared from school, how we searched for her everywhere, from police cells, hospitals, morgues, name them. Yes, we found her. But she was sick. Seriously sick. And just like my brother, she ended up under the care of the family. It is at this point I embarked on research to find out what was this monster troubling my family.
I read any literature about mental health that I came across. I was determined to find cure for my loved ones. I was determined to end the stigma. Then the biggest blow came even closer, too close to my heart, my soul – my son, my only dear son, was diagnosed with schizophrenia during the covid period. I felt like the world had come to an end. Saying I was heartbroken, is an understatement. Even though I had so much information by this time as I tried to find a cure for my siblings, I thought God was being unfair by putting my son through such a disease. I blamed my parenting styles, I blamed my husband, I blamed anything and anyone I felt could have triggered my son’s Mind to fall Apart!
Mind Fall Apart is a true story of my son, who I call Trevor in the book. My writing journey has not been easy as most of the times I found myself in tears as I put the experiences of my son’s encounter with the schizo-affective disorder.
Trevor, was born a normal kid, but he developed allergies that delayed his physical growth until he became a teenager. However, throughout his life, he was a very organized, disciplined and orderly boy. He was always among the top students in his class. Trevor faced some life challenges too like being bullied for his body size, pressure from the teachers, parenting issues and the climax being Covid 19 stressors.
I have done my best to capture from Trevor’s experience, lessons that every parent, teacher, student and caregivers should learn to prevent mental disorders. I have also shared the experiences on taking care of a mentally ill person. My purpose is to have a society that looks at mental health as a disease and not a curse. I would count it a big Win to see a society that no longer stigmatizes Minds that have Fallen Apart.
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