Indeed, early detection and treatment is the best way to heal mental illnesses like schizophrenia. And since we have entered into a technological era, our children will usually have access to the World Wide Web. Some websites designed to promote mental health awareness for our children include:
http://www.am-i-ok.co.uk/
http://mindcheck.ca/

Websites like http://www.mayoclinic.com/ may offer a more compressive account regarding all forms of mental illness. Yet, reading the technical definitions of a mental illness can often be confusing, especially for our young ones.
The illness of depression may be easier to understand, since every person has experienced feelings of sadness. However, in the case of schizophrenia, the symptoms may be easily misunderstood. Persons with schizophrenia may experience hallucinations or delusions. But what exactly are these symptoms? Delusions may be defined as the misinterpretation of experience, while hallucinations may be defined as seeing or hearing things that do not really exist. However, as a patient with schizophrenia, I know that realizing the fact that I am delusional or hallucinating can be difficult. Patients with schizophrenia may sometimes believe that their delusions and hallucinations are “normal”, and not the symptoms of any form of illness. In my case, I experienced delusions on a periodic basis throughout my childhood, and although I did possess some recognition that these thoughts may have been “extraordinary”, I never conceived the possibility that I may have been sick. It was only after I reached adulthood, when my delusions became increasingly frequent, where I pondered the possibility that I could have been affected by some kind of illness.
I remember that in grade 6, I received sexual education for a short period of that school year. Perhaps we can create a similar program based on mental illness awareness. If I was educated on the nature of schizophrenic delusions, maybe I could have realized that the belief that I was God was not “normal” and perhaps the symptom of some kind of disease. I think a mental illness awareness program could help some children, before they become overwhelmed with the symptoms of some disease. If our children possessed the awareness that some of their thoughts are indeed “strange”, maybe they will seek some kind of further counsel, and this could encourage the early detection and treatment process. I think it is important to educate our children on the subject of mental illness before they become overwhelmingly symptomatic. The goal that we should all work towards is the self-identification of the early stages of mental illness, and all other illnesses for that matter, because this is the best time to start the treatment process.