

6
th
World Congress on
Mental Health, Psychiatry and Wellbeing
March 20-21, 2019 | New York, USA
Find More Information @
annualmentalhealth.psychiatryconferences.comMarch 2019 Conference Series LLC Ltd
25
conference
series LLC Ltd
AKingdom FarAway;
Raising a daughter
with mental illness in a
systematically unsafe
world
K
ari Gusso shares her personal
journey. Living with a child
that struggles with mental illness
is very hard and sometimes
debilitating. Friends and family
are not aware of what really
goes on behind closed doors.
Health care professionals and
law enforcement need to stop
treating the mentally ill as if
they have committed a crime.
Having an anxiety attack does
not constitute a crime. There
needs to be a higher standard
of mental health education.
This book is a raw account
of living with mental illness.
Kari bravely tells her brutally
honest story of daily struggles
parenting a child living with
a mental illness—and the
unrelenting battle to keep her
daughter safe from untrained
police, medical staff, and society
at large. Mental illness has a
biological component, like any
other disease. I want to raise
awareness that mental health is
a national issue. Schools need to
screen early and educate.
Biography
Kari Gusso grew up in MN where she
attended Holy Angels in Richfield, MN.
Kari received her BS in Nursing from SDSU,
and worked for many years as a labor and
delivery nurse, a flight nurse and as an RN
case manager at the VA Medical Hospital in
Sioux Falls SD. In 2012 she decided to stay
at home full-time to care for their daughter
Lauren who suffers with a mental illness. Kari
has been featured on KDLT Sioux Falls, 96.5
radio SD, and the Sioux Falls Argus Leader
News, along with magazine articles. Kari
spoke to the University of MN CHAT program
and she is involved in the SD Partners
in Policymaking where she sits with law
makers as a parent representative telling
her story. Kari and her husband Jared live in
Sioux Falls, SD with their three daughters;
Lauren, 17; Megan, 15; and Nikki, 12.
karigusso@sio.midco.netKari Gusso
South Dakota State University
USA
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EMERGENCYMENTAL HEALTHANDHUMAN RESILIENCE 2019, VOLUME 21
DOI: 10.4172/1522-4821-C2-028
KEYNOTE FORUM |
DAY 1