A new book aims to equip families of people with serious mental illness (SMI) with the tools to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of mental health technology. 'Connected Care: A Practical Guide to Technology for Serious Mental Illness,' by Nicole Drapeau Gillen, is now available on Amazon. It is the first resource to compile vetted digital tools, pharmaceutical assistance programs, and AI applications in psychiatric care specifically for caregivers and families, not clinicians or researchers.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, SMI—including schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder—affects an estimated 14 million Americans. Their families and caregivers number in the tens of millions more. Yet until now, no single resource has organized the expanding world of mental health technology into a practical guide for those who need it most. The book delivers 42+ vetted digital tools, 60 pharmaceutical portals across 16 companies, 6 types of financial assistance programs, 10 AI use cases in psychiatric care, and 19 practical checklists, all explained in plain language.
'Connected Care' addresses a health equity crisis within the mental health crisis. For Latino, Black, rural, and other underserved families, the technology gap compounds existing barriers. The book covers AI algorithmic bias, multilingual telehealth platforms, culturally competent care resources, and financial programs for underserved populations. Maria Case, founder of Kompashion and NAMI National Speaker, said, 'My family spent ten years searching for answers for my mother's schizophrenia—ten years of wrong doors, language barriers, and a system that wasn't built for us. I wish Connected Care had existed then.'
Gillen, whose daughter has SMI, wrote the book after her first book, 'Schizophrenia & Related Disorders: A Handbook for Caregivers,' became an Amazon bestseller with a 4.9-star rating. 'The mental health system was not built for families. But technology has quietly created a parallel system that families can use to get better care, save money, and prevent the next crisis. Most families have no idea any of it exists,' she said.
The book includes coverage of pharmaceutical patient assistance programs and co-pay portals that can reduce medication costs; passive sensing apps and wearable devices that detect behavioral shifts preceding relapse; AI tools used in psychiatric care; FDA-cleared prescription digital therapeutics; telehealth platforms; remote monitoring tools; legal rights technology; and resources to fight insurance denials, which occur at rates 85% higher for mental health claims than comparable medical claims.
Dr. Akira Sawa, Director of the Johns Hopkins Schizophrenia Center, praised the book: 'Connected Care successfully fills the potential gap between patient care, research, and public outreach with language that families can actually act on, without sacrificing accuracy. This is the kind of resource that belongs in the hands of every family and everyone involved in mental healthcare.'
For more information, visit ResourcesForSMI.com.
