Curated News
By: NewsRamp Editorial Staff
July 15, 2026
New Book Connects Families to Tech for Serious Mental Illness
TLDR
- Connected Care gives caregivers a competitive edge by revealing 42+ vetted digital tools and financial programs most families never find.
- The book organizes 60 pharmaceutical portals, 10 AI use cases, and 19 checklists into a practical guide for managing serious mental illness.
- Connected Care empowers families of the 14 million Americans with serious mental illness by making life-saving technology accessible and understandable.
- A caregiver's guide reveals FDA-cleared digital therapeutics and AI tools that can detect relapse days before symptoms appear.
Impact - Why it Matters
This book matters because it empowers families caring for loved ones with serious mental illness—a group historically starved for resources—by providing a clear, actionable roadmap to a parallel system of technology tools. These tools can reduce medication costs, predict relapses, fight insurance denials, and bridge health equity gaps. For the 14 million Americans affected and their families, this knowledge can transform crisis management into proactive, informed care.
Summary
In a groundbreaking move to bridge the technology gap in mental health care, Nicole Drapeau Gillen has released Connected Care: A Practical Guide to Technology for Serious Mental Illness, now available on Amazon. This is the first book to organize the rapidly expanding world of mental health technology into a practical, accessible guide written specifically for caregivers and families—not clinicians or researchers. Gillen, whose daughter has serious mental illness, previously authored the Amazon best-seller Schizophrenia & Related Disorders: A Handbook for Caregivers, which sold thousands of copies with a 4.9-star rating. Connected Care addresses the second gap she identified: the lack of guidance on technology tools available after a diagnosis.
The book covers 42+ vetted digital tools, 60 pharmaceutical portals across 16 companies, 6 types of financial assistance programs, 10 AI use cases in psychiatric care, and 19 practical checklists—all explained in plain language. Key areas include pharmaceutical patient assistance programs, passive sensing apps and wearable devices that detect relapse precursors, AI tools used in psychiatric care, FDA-cleared prescription digital therapeutics, telehealth platforms, and legal rights technology such as psychiatric advance directives and insurance denial appeals tools. The book also tackles a health equity crisis by addressing AI algorithmic bias, multilingual telehealth platforms, and culturally competent care resources for underserved populations like Latino, Black, and rural families.
Endorsed by Dr. Akira Sawa, Director of the Johns Hopkins Schizophrenia Center, the book is praised for filling the gap between patient care, research, and public outreach. With serious mental illness affecting an estimated 14 million Americans and their caregivers numbering tens of millions more, Connected Care aims to empower families to access better care, save money, and prevent crises. As Gillen states, 'The mental health system was not built for families. But technology has quietly created a parallel system that families can use.' The book is available in print and digital formats on Amazon, with more resources at ResourcesForSMI.com.
Source Statement
This curated news summary relied on content disributed by 24-7 Press Release. Read the original source here, New Book Connects Families to Tech for Serious Mental Illness
