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Student author pens mental health books for kids

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An aspiring clinical psychologist studying at King’s University College isn’t waiting for her degree before making a difference in the lives of children suffering from mental illness.

This Saturday, Kristin Legault-Donkers, an 18-year-old student from St. Thomas, is launching a series of children’s books specifically for kids and parents struggling with mental health issues. The four books address depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and bipolar disorder.

Vetted by health care professionals, the books are the type of much-needed resource Legault-Donkers said she would have benefited from if they existed when she was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety five years ago. 

“Because of my own struggles, I’ve realized a lot of people aren’t educated about mental illness,” Legault-Donkers said from St. Thomas August 24. “They don’t really know how to react when someone has something and a lot of times, they don’t know how to cope with it. So I’m hoping these books will help people, even people who aren’t struggling, understand more about mental health and how they can cope.”

Legault-Donkers describes her first hospitalization and diagnoses as “a living hell.”

“There was so much stigma. I felt alone. I didn’t want to tell anyone.”

Legault-Donkers said she spent time at the Child and Parent Resource Institute, Children’s Hospital, London Health Sciences Centre, and Parkwood Hospital, all in London. It took a year for her to get a psychiatrist and today, Legault-Donkers said she pays $170 out of her own pocket per visit to see a clinical psychologist, sessions that are a key part of her coping strategies.

“It’s not something that just goes away,” she explained. “It’s something I’ve had to learn how to deal with.”

Although high profile mental health advocates such as Olympian Clara Hughes and news coverage of local mental health-related tragedies (such as the teen suicides in Oxford County or the deadly 2014 fire in an unregulated London group home) may have helped increase awareness of mental health issues affecting the community, Legault-Donkers believes her experience is still far too common.

“Imagine if you had a broken arm and they put a cast on but told you they wouldn’t have anyone available to remove the cast or give you (physiotherapy) for a year,” she said. “It would be ludicrous. We have to do better.”

Elgin-Middlesex-London MP Karen Vecchio and Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Jeff Yurek are expected to speak at the Lakeside Pavilion in St. Thomas’s Pinafore Park during the book launch August 27. Legault-Donkers said she’s glad the project has provided her a platform to get her message across to local decision makers.

“We need a lot more education and we need a lot more resources than we have,” she said. “What we’re doing right now isn’t acceptable. We just need a lot more done.  I think we need education in the school system — mental health curriculum all the way through. We need more funding. It’s an important issue that needs to be taken care of.”

In the meantime, Legault-Donkers said reaching as many families as possible with her book series is her main goal. She said she’s put up nearly $15,000 of her own to have the books published and plans to donate many of them to organizations that have helped her over the past five years.

Legault-Donkers said the books should be in local book stores this fall but can also be found on her website: www.childrensmentalhealthseries.com

 

CMontanini@postmedia.com

Twitter: @LondonerChris

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