Episode 117: Jacqueline Janssen, Mom, Advocate, and Author

Written By Susie Gurley

Jacqueline (https://jacquelinejanssen.com/)has turned all she has learned about mental illness from her son’s mental health journey into incredible advocacy. Her latest book, Every Homeless Person Has a Mother, chronicles Jacqueline’s experience as a parent of an adult child with schizoaffective disorder. Jacqueline’s son’s battle with mental illness started when he was 19 years old. Jacqueline talks about the myriad of therapies and treatments her son received and how he ultimately ended up homeless as a result of anosognosia (https://www.nami.org/about-mental-illness/common-with-mental-illness/anosognosia/) or the lack of ability to recognize and treat his mental illness. Jacqueline has been a tireless advocate for families through her own work and with NAMI (https://www.nami.org/) and encourages families to get involved in their local NAMI chapters. Jacqueline emphasizes that when a loved one is incapable of making decisions for his or her own good, HIPAA (https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/php/resources/health-insurance-portability-and-accountability-act-of-1996-hipaa.html) allows mental health providers to talk to families. Jacqueline also discusses strategies for reunification of families if there is estrangement due to mental illness. Jacqueline graciously shares many resources with listeners:

Family Rights and HIPAA Facts: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W6DO-beIMgMww0xH1QTUBECiSXd85W8H/view?usp=drive_link; 

HIPAA Decision Tree: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DsI-DpSCFrZLfgCknTqjaMqXTavh0AGu/view?usp=drive_link; 

Family Involvement Accelerates Recovery: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IoCvWj7H56K-F4qtSL5hiGHriEn6Nk8U/view?usp=drive_link; 

Every Homeless Person Has A Mother: https://everyhomelesspersonhasamother.substack.com; 

https://www.nationalshatteringsilencecoalition.org/; 

What I Wish I’d Known: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KnkPLJKF7TCNyvTwxgnZIhtAcDOCgoYQ/view?usp=drive_link

Susie Gurley

Susie Stapp Gurley was born and raised in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. She married her college sweetheart, Dan Gurley, shortly after graduating from TCU with a degree in advertising and public relations. In her first career, Susie worked in college admissions and academic advising. Simultaneously she pursued a master’s degree from The University of Central Missouri in sociology and then worked for the Sedgwick County, KS Department of Aging as a case worker. Susie stepped away from the professional world in 1997 to become a stay-at-home mom. She spent the majority of the last 25 years as a wife, mother, and volunteer, primarily in her church and her three children’s schools and activities.

Susie became a mental health advocate after her youngest son became a teen spokesperson about his battle with depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. In 2018, at the age of 15, Will founded the You Matter Festival, a music festival promoting mental health awareness and suicide prevention. Will shared his personal mental health struggles with the 1,000-person crowd, which started his role as a local KC teen advocate for mental health. Because of Will’s involvement, Susie recorded a video #Zeroreasonswhy (https://zeroreasonswhy.org), a Kansas City area organization working to end teen suicide in the Johnson County, Kansas area. This video was viewed over 10,000 times, which was the impetus of the Just A Mom podcast. Susie decided that she needed to follow the brave trail blazed by her son and became an outspoken advocate for parents of children who struggle with mental illness. The Just a Mom podcast launched in September of 2022 and encourages parents to know that they are not alone and there is hope.

Susie served as the Executive Director of the You Matter Festival and is currently on the Friends of Johnson County Mental Health Board. Susie has grown three children, two daughters-in-law, and a son-in-law.

Next

Episode 116: Adriane Handy, Chair, American Society for Suicide Prevention of Greater Kansas City