The struggles faced by someone diagnosed with a mental illness, are usually shared by those closest to them, but there are resources available to help both the patient and their family.

Whether it is schizophrenia, depression, anxiety or something else, a diagnosis can be a big blow to families, especially if they have no experience dealing with mental illness.

Janet Sauve drives from Barrie to Kitchener, Ont. every two weeks to visit her younger brother, Eric Brown.

He lives at the Kaljas Homes, where they help him to manage his schizophrenia. But when his sister visits they often hit the road together, since Eric enjoys driving.

Sauve says "Eric is the only person I go to visit all the time so it's really nice to have somebody you know and I guess he feels the same way."

He does, calling her his best friend.

Maggie Kaljas, owns and operates the Kaljas Homes. She says this type of family situation is the best-case scenario.

"We've had people that just drop them off and you never hear from the families again. Sometimes I've tried to contact families to let them know what's going on, you can't get find them."

The stress of dealing with a mental illness can have a big impact on a family, something Stephen MacInnis knows well.

MacInnis is a patient at Grand River Hospital's long-term mental health unit, and it has been a challenge both for him and his wife Taralee as he fights depression and bipolar disorder.

Their nine-year-old daughter has had to live with her grandfather until the situation improves.

MacInnis says "If she did something wrong I just pushed it off because all I wanted to do was sleep through the nine years…I went to work I came home, I pretty well became a prisoner in my own home."

Dr. Sujay Patel, medical director for the Regional Specialized Mental Health Program at Grand River Hospital, says reaching out to family is part of the hospital's role.

"We engage the individual with their loved one if we can find that they're still around and then we work towards educating them, trying to minimize that anxiety," he says.

In addition to the services available through the hospital, there are many free online tools as well as in-person counselling services available for families in crisis.

Therapists at KW Conselling Services say stressors can range from financial problems, to feeling of isolation from friends and extended family due to the stigma associated with mental illness, to the challenge of getting access to proper care for affected family members.

Shannon Golletz is a family therapist at KW Counselling. She says "We would encourage them not to pressure. That might not be so helpful in getting the person through the front door, but volunteering to go with them to an appointment, or providing some reading material even around the house."

Sauve says it's important not to judge those who don't spend a lot of time with family members who have been diagnosed with a mental illness.

"It might be mutual too," she says. "We don't really know who is avoiding whom, and I think in the case of Eric, he welcomes us in his life and it makes a difference."

In 2011, Mental Health Week begins May 3 and there are many events planned in Waterloo Region. For more information please visit: http://cmha.ca/bins/index.asp.