A Film By Sheila Ganz

The documentary-in-progress Piece of Mind illuminates the struggles of families with loved ones and persons living with severe mental illness – for safe thoughts, safe body, safe place.

“I watched the trailer of Piece of Mind and it looks like you are doing a good job on the film.  You have a nice variety of participants.  It should be a useful film for educating people.  Good luck with it.”
-E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., Author of Living with Schizophrenia, American Psychosis, Researcher, Founder of Treatment Advocacy Center

It is with much sadness that I announce the passing of my dear sister, Harriet, in June 2024.  She will live forever in my heart and in the film.  She bravely struggled with schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease.

Planning to move her sister with schizophrenia from Massachusetts to San Francisco, filmmaker Sheila Ganz’s desire to find a good facility and get her on the right medication becomes an intimate exploration, as the documentary Piece of Mind delves into the struggles of two families with loved ones and a person living with severe mental illness in pursuit of psychiatric treatment and healing, stymied by cognitive impairment, encounters with police officers and systemic barriers to care that require immediate humane solutions.

These stories are told against the backdrop of systemic inequities in mental healthcare for persons living with untreated severe mental illness.  How can society help individuals who don’t know they are ill?  Can unnecessary tragedies of homelessness, incarceration and police shootings be averted?  What are the humane solutions?