Living with Childhood Mental Illness

2005 fellow Gerri Shaftel produced this report on one family in Stevenson Ranch who shared their experience of having a child with mental illness.

Stevenson Ranch (myFOXla.com) - A Stevenson Ranch family is opening up about its ongoing ordeal with childhood mental illness in hopes of bringing greater awareness to the issue.

Meet the Wohlenberg family, which is helping others by documenting its story on-air and online, in the report in the video player.

You can also find out more about how families are dealing with severe childhood mental illness in mom Jennifer Wohlenberg's blog: morethanwords.typepad.com

For a closer look at full-blown childhood schizophrenia, you can read Michael and Susan Scholfield's blogs at JanuaryFirst.org and BipolarNationRadio.podbean.com, respectively.

The Schofields were the subject of several stories in the Los Angeles Times. Their 7-year-old daughter January has early-onset schizophrenia.

For more on bipolar disorder in kids, you can also visit the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation at bpkids.org.

We also invite you to see more mental health resources featured here on our website.

Video from: FOX 11 News

Video Story Producer: Gerri Shaftel

Reporter: Carlos Amezcua

Posted by: Scott Coppersmith