W

hen Erik Bean’
s 17-year-old 
son, Ethan, died by suicide, 
he was enveloped by a dark 
shroud of grief and guilt. 
For years, Bean and his wife, Stacey, 
who lived in Farmington Hills, had 
tried to help Ethan, who struggled with 
behavioral issues due to mental health 
disorders that included autism, psychosis 
and ADHD. Finally, no longer able to 
bear his ongoing pain, Ethan ended his 
life on Aug. 24, 2018. 
“As a parent, you feel like a failure,” 
Bean said. “You think about all the 
things you could have done.” 
After attending a program sponsored 
by the American Foundation for Suicide 
Prevention, the couple and their daugh-
ter, Blair, began participating in a local 
support group for families who had lost 
a loved one to suicide. There, Bean met 
other survivors who had found that giv-
ing back to their communi-
ties helped ease their grief.
Bean was receptive when 
Emily Waszak, a local author 
with whom he had previous-
ly collaborated on two class-
room curriculum books, 
proposed they co-author a 
children’
s book on mental health. 
Bean had spent most of his career 
in higher education as a professor, 

researcher, curriculum designer and 
textbook author. Acknowledging there 
was a shortage of mental health curric-
ulum geared toward young children, he 
agreed to take part in the project. Bean 
and Waszak enlisted longtime family 
friend Sherry Wexler to serve as editor. 
“At first it was a therapeutic device 
that got me out of my stupor and mov-
ing forward,” Bean said. “But it also 
had the potential to serve a much more 
useful purpose, to have a wider positive 
impact.”
As the book took began to take shape, 
the team recruited local tutor and former 
elementary school teacher 
Gail Gorske to do the illus-
trations. Described on its 
cover as “A Children’
s First 
Mental Health Primer,” the 
book depicts seven relatable 
young characters who strug-
gle with various challenges such as self-
doubt, learning disorders and behavior 
issues. In honor of Ethan’
s love of trains 
and his April 3 birthday, the story is 
structured around a train called Engine 
403. Seven children, whose names were 
chosen by Blair, board the train to deal 
with their respective issues. Stacey, a 
social worker, contributed her knowl-
edge of children with atypical behaviors. 
In 40 pages of catchy rhymes and 19 

Ethan’s 
Legacy

Local family creates mental 
health primer for children. 

RONELLE GRIER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jews in the D

COURTESY OF THE BEAN FAMILY

Emily 
Waszak

Stacy, Erik and Ethan Bean

Gail Gorske

continued on page 30

 FEBRUARY 27 • 2020 | 29

