Michael Schofield to release book about his 9 year old daughter battling Schizophrenia

Jani (January) Schofield is a young girl with Schizophrenia. Her father, Michael Schofield, has written a book about his journeys with Jani which will be released on March 20th, 2012. I am plugging his book as I have been appreciative of his daughter's story and the story of he and his wife for quite some time.

Jani was born in August of 2002. She was diagnosed with Schizophrenia at age 5. Jani is currently 9 years of age.

(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

I've posted about Jani Schofield in the past. To read my post 7 Year Old Battles Schizophrenia written in 2009, click here. To read my post Jani's Parents, also written in 2009, click here. And lastly, to read my post Something's Burning, written in 2009, click here.


Jani Schofield's Story

As a psychiatric social worker, but a human first, I have been interested in psychology and human behavior from a young age. As a psychiatric social worker that is relatively new in the biz, I have much to learn and am far from a seasoned clinician.

Currently, I work at a long term psychiatric hospital and I work with mentally ill adults. To date I have never worked with mentally ill adolescents and certainly have never worked with mentally ill children. Children experiencing Schizophrenia is extremely rare. There are even some doctors who do not believe that Schizophrenia can exist in children.

Jani is a quirky young girl (and I am quite fond of quirkiness in anyone) who experiences auditory hallucinations and visual hallucinations as well as delusional thinking. She claims to live in a world called Calalini where she exists with dwelling cats (for example - "400" the cat who scratches her) , rats (for example "Wednesday" the rat who bites her), and numbers.

"Calalini is on the border of my world and your world."
~Jani

Jani's parents are Michael and Susan Schofield. In an interview with Discovery Health, Michael Schofield had explained that, "Before her diagnosis she was always eccentric, but we just chalked that up to a great imagination," says Michael. "She was very mature for her age until the schizophrenia struck. She became violent at five years old -- severely violent, not tantrum violent. So at five-and-a-half, it was the first time we realized something is wrong here and we first took her to a therapist. From there we were recommended to [Dr. Linda Woodall, a psychiatrist in Glendale, Calif.] who we've been with since. A few weeks later she was on medication."

He further explained,

"When we first brought her into the psychiatric system, Michael explains, "the first time she was hospitalized, we were still operating under the belief that they could fix this. Isn't that what they're supposed to do? They're psychiatrists. We believed surely they must have seen this before. What became increasingly hard was that they kept telling us over and over again this is the most extreme case they've ever seen. That's not comforting to hear from doctors at a premiere psychiatric teaching hospital. That's when I really started to become afraid, afraid that we couldn't beat this, that there was no easy solution. I remember during her second hospitalization at UCLA she was getting worse and I remember feeling so powerless. The hardest part in terms of her within the system was coming to the realization that the system didn't have the answers."

"We've come to understand what her baseline is -- she's always a little bit psychotic -- and she hallucinates about 95 percent of the time," continues Michael. "We work with the baseline, but when it escalates to the point where she's a danger to herself or to Bodhi we try to hospitalize as a preventative measure, to prevent her psychosis from getting worse. She has so many hallucinations. When the medications work against one set, another set emerges to take its place. It's like fighting an insurgency."

When asked about one of the most surprising obstacles Micael and his wife Susan have faced, Michael says,

"The most surprising thing is the complete lack of services that exist. The Department of Mental Health wants to ship Jani to an out of state facility and no local facilities will take her because she's too psychotic. Throughout our journey all the services we thought must exist won't help us."

The problem, the Schofields say, is that many facilities cater to specific illnesses and can't help with Jani's problem. She doesn't fall in the autism spectrum, for example, so cannot garner services from some local agencies. Many services, they say, are behavior-based or are behavior modification programs."

"And you can't modify the behavior of someone in a psychotic state because they can't learn," says Michael. "When Jani's not in a psychotic state she knows it's wrong to hit -- that's not the problem. The problem is she can't control it. She has to watch two movies at the same time -- our world and her world, and sometimes they overlap. But you can only focus on one thing at a time. When we're out, for example, a car will be right in front of her and she won't see it. One little girl she hallucinates can jump off buildings and do this without getting hurt. Jani is unable to grasp that if she does this too, she will get hurt. You have to be on her at all times, within arms reach, to keep her safe."

Oprah interviews Jani Schofield

In my line of work I have witnessed this illness at its worst. Sometimes medications and therapeutic interventions can help immensely. I've worked with patients who are screaming, shouting, swearing like sailors, spewing delusions, and responding to internal stimuli, who turn a 180 when consuming medications.

When I am in the presence of a person who is now able to function due to medication intervention, I feel immediately angry with the Tom Cruises of the world who adamantly oppose it. While the mental health system is not without it's problems, there are many benefits which I am oh so grateful for.

It is unfortunate that Jani is one of the individuals who's medications barely touch her illness.

I am impressed with Jani's parents. Their lives are anything but easy. I am impressed with Jani Schofield. Her life is anything but easy.

Those experiencing mental illness have always been my heroes. Whether they are actively seeking assistance or whether they are battling their illness on their own within their alreadly tampered mind. I am always impressed.

As a psychiatric social worker, my job is to help my patients in any way I can. Every day I am humbled as it is often my patients who teach me. I have no idea what it is like to be in the shoes of each invididual. It is important to recognize patients an individuals. One mustn't lump those with Schizophrenia (or other specified mental illnesses) into one group just as one cannot lump all who experience breast cancer (or other medical illnesses) into one group.

Each individual has a story. Each individual comes with their own level of acceptance, or denial. Their own level of insight, their own struggles and triumphs. Their own world view, their own capacities, their own talents, their own roller coaster.

Grad school helped me learn various aspects of psychology, theory, practice modules, diagnoses, social justice policies and multi-cultural approaches. All of that is fine and good but the real learning comes from sitting across from a patient and simply listening. There's a lot that can unfold when you just shut up and listen.

As mentioned earlier I would like to promote, Michael Schofield's book about his journey with Jani.

Janurary First: A Child's Decent into Madness & Her Father's Struggle to Save Her, can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com. To place an order click here. The book will be released on March 20th, 2012. I ordered my copy!


For more information about Jani and her family visit these websites:
To view Michael Schofield's blog go to Jani's Journey
To view his former blog about Jani go to January First (Notes from Calalini)
To view Susan Schofield's podcast go to Bipolar Nation Radio
To visit The Jani Foundation YouTube channel click here.

To visit The Jani Foundation facebook page click here.