Dr. Richard O’Reilly recently wrote an article for FASMI on the importance of info-sharing with family caregivers, and we thought you would be interested in hearing his thoughts.

The underfunding of mental health services in North America means that more than half of individuals with schizophrenia live with their families. More often than not, these family caregivers provide all of their affected loved one’s essential needs, including housing, nutrition, clothing, and transportation. 

Despite this essential work, these caregivers often receive little—if any—support. In particular, family caregivers often fail to receive information necessary to provide care for their loved ones, or are left out of treatment planning by hospitals and clinicians altogether. 

Dr. Richard O’Reilly believes that a key part of this problem is the misinformation around privacy laws that some clinicians view as prohibitive to involving family caregivers and sharing vital info. In this article for FASMI, he discusses the importance of info sharing, what clinicians can get wrong about privacy legislation, and why this is important.