Living with a serious mental illness isn't easy. Gain the confidence you need to deal with the situation by learning about your illness or the illness your loved one has. Connect with others facing similar circumstances. Locate helpful resources, such as treatment programs, family and client support and advocacy groups. And find out how to manage your health and nurture success.

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 Our Voices is a book that tells what it's like to be diagnosed with a major mental illness, to live with symptoms, and to navigate the mental health system. It is the product of a small committee working collaboratively with the support of two social workers from the STEP Clinic. Here is an excerpt from the introduction, "How We Wrote the Book."

Our team of author-editors consisted of five individuals, each with some form of schizophrenia, who have weathered the worst part of their illness, have put their lives back together, and have really started to succeed in life again.

Together we rewrote, rephrased, eliminated, and selected questions to evoke significant short answers. We recruited patient-authors from our friends, patients of our social work advisors, the hospital waiting room, two different clubhouses, the STEP art gallery reception, and organizations including NAMI and Schizophrenics Anonymous.

For individuals with schizophrenia—here's your chance to compare! For mental health care professionals, not only can you attempt to relate to us better—you may read what the patient-authors really think about you. (Yes, we are talking about you—see how it feels!) For the families of individuals with schizophrenia—if you seek to understand us, we're easier to live with! And for the readers who are just interested—we will rid you of stigma for good. And for us, Our Voices have been heard in reality and will have made a difference.

Our Voices is available for purchase through iuniverse.com and amazon.com.