Families caring for loved ones with serious mental illness (SMI) face a daunting landscape of fragmented resources, but a new book aims to equip them with practical technology tools. Connected Care: A Practical Guide to Technology for Serious Mental Illness, written by Nicole Drapeau Gillen and now available on Amazon, is the first resource to compile vetted digital tools, financial assistance programs, and AI applications in psychiatric care specifically for caregivers, not clinicians.
Gillen, whose daughter has SMI, previously authored the best-selling Schizophrenia & Related Disorders: A Handbook for Caregivers. She recognized that families need guidance not only on diagnosis but on leveraging technology to improve care. Connected Care provides 42+ vetted digital tools, 60 pharmaceutical portals, 6 types of financial assistance programs, 10 AI use cases, and 19 checklists—all in plain language.
Dr. Akira Sawa, director of the Johns Hopkins Schizophrenia Center, endorsed the book, stating, "Connected Care successfully fills the potential gap between them with language that families can actually act on, without sacrificing accuracy."
Serious mental illness affects an estimated 14 million Americans, with millions more caregivers. Despite this, no single resource had organized the expanding mental health technology landscape for families until now. The book addresses critical areas such as pharmaceutical patient assistance programs, passive sensing apps that detect relapse indicators, FDA-cleared prescription digital therapeutics, and legal rights tools like psychiatric advance directives and insurance denial appeals.
Gillen emphasizes that technology has created a parallel system families can use to obtain better care, save money, and prevent crises. However, she also highlights a health equity crisis: families already navigating systemic barriers—Latino, Black, rural, and other underserved populations—face compounded challenges. The book covers AI algorithmic bias, multilingual telehealth platforms, and culturally competent care resources.
Maria Case, founder of Kompashion and NAMI National Speaker, whose mother has schizophrenia, noted, "My family spent ten years searching for answers... I wish Connected Care had existed then."
For more information, visit ResourcesForSMI.com.
