Program Offers Help to Family Members of Those with Mental Illness

March 31--NAMI Lewis County will sponsor a Family-to-Family Education Program specifically for families of people who are diagnosed with serious mental illness.

The affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness will hold the 12-session series and will meet twice weekly for six weeks.

The course will cover information about mood disorders, like bipolar disorder and major depression, schizophrenia, panic disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. The series will include information on coping skills such as handling relapse and crisis, basic information about medications, communication and listening techniques, problem solving skills, recovery, rehabilitation and stress care surrounding worry and stress.

The curriculum used was written by an experienced family member mental health professor and will be taught by family member volunteers of NAMI Lewis County who have taken intensive training as course instructors.

"This course is a wonderful experience," instructor Sherry Palmer said. "It balances basic psycho-social education and skill training with emotional support, self care and empowerment. We hope families with relatives who have a serious mental illness will take advantage of this unique opportunity."

The course is not for individuals who themselves suffer from a major mental illness. Instead it is designed for parents, siblings, spouses, teenage and adult children and significant others of persons with persistent and severe mental illness.

Over 115,000 family members have completed the national program developed by NAMI, which includes learning in special workshops for problem solving, listening and communication techniques, guidance on locating appropriate support and services within the community and information on advocacy initiatives designed to expand and improve services, among other items.

The first class will start 6-8:30 p.m. Monday at the Centralia United Methodist Church, 506 S. Washington Ave. in Centralia. The program will run twice weekly on Monday and Friday evenings for six weeks.

All course materials are free. For more information or to register, call Palmer at (360) 880-8070.

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