During early childhood, Andrew experienced dramatic symptoms not unlike those of schizoaffective disorder. Through an arduous process of trial and error, and luck, we resolved those symptoms using natural interventions, and once we did, life was amazing. Years later, during adolescence, Andrew had a period of extreme social anxiety and isolation, which he overcame after spending several weeks at an excellent wilderness therapy program. The next several years of his life were among the happiest and most rewarding. 

It's because of those experiences, even before Dr. Chris Palmer published his groundbreaking book Brain Energy, that we believed - knew! - that mental illness begins in the body and can be put into remission. In hindsight, we realize the interventions we found were metabolic interventions that were no doubt healing the mitochondria. Without fully knowing why the interventions restored Andrew’s health, we did not recognize what all was needed to maintain it.

The dorm experience can be an all-out assault on mitochondrial health. It was for Andrew, and psychiatric symptoms emerged during his Freshman year of college. Due to their gravity, he depended on the standard of care available at the time – a reasonable thought. Unfortunately, like so many afflicted with psychiatric symptoms, he endured numerous ineffective treatment programs and medications (with difficult side effects).  Next, under the care of a very kind and diligent Functional Psychiatrist, Andrew’s quality of life improved, but his symptoms were not fully resolved. The Functional approach was beneficial but exhausting and extremely expensive -- ultimately unsustainable.  After shifting back to a conventional approach, Andrew was soon on the medication merry-go-round, with tragic results. Please see his Memorial…

Andrew reminds us that every human being is precious. He inspires us to do everything we can to restore the beauty, freedom, and potential of every life impacted by mental illness.