NAMI Peer-to-Peer is a free, 10-session educational program for adults with mental illness who are looking to better understand their condition and journey toward recovery.
Taught by a trained team of people who've been there, the program includes presentations, discussion and interactive exercises. Everything is confidential, and NAMI never recommends a specific medical therapy or treatment approach.
What You’ll Gain

This in-person group experience provides the opportunity for mutual support and positive impact. You can experience compassion and reinforcement from people who relate to your experiences. Through your participation, you have the opportunity to help others grow. This is a confidential place to learn from shared experiences in an environment of sincere, uncritical acceptance. Recovery is a journey, and there is hope for all people living with mental illness.
NAMI Peer-to-Peer helps you:

• Create a personalized relapse prevention plan
• Learn how to interact with health care providers
• Develop confidence for making decisions and reducing stress
• Stay up-to-date on mental health research
• Understand the impact of symptoms on your life
• Access practical resources on how to maintain your journey toward recovery

Bizi,

This has the potential to be right up your alley.

I think the structured approach and the specifics will be worth your checking out.


N

I agree with Mari. I think that this program could be perfect for you.

I think this could be an excellent opportunity for you to talk about issues related to your mental health without the fear of judgement you often face, and I think it would be good for you to learn how to better manage your BP and navigate the mental health care system better from people who have had to do it themselves

My sister and her husband both now talk to others after this program.

They travel in Indiana sometimes to talk.

Donna

Bizi,

Do you have an active chapter in your community?

You are lucky if you do.


M

NAMI connections support group meets once a week now. one location on tuesday during the day twice a month then the other location meets the 1st and 3rd sunday of the month at 6pm. That is the one that I go to on occasion....and try to go more often now.
There is also a family support group that runs the same time on sundays.
yes we are lucky.
They will have a NAMI walk soon too.
bizi

Went to the first session. There ended up being 14 people there. They fed us chicken salad which was very good!.
I was frustrated toward the end because they did not have a visual aid for something they were talking about creating a chart but I did not understand what they were telling me to do. They finally explained it and passed around the chart piece of paper with the chart drawn out.
sigh
This is the first time for them to teach this peer to peer training class. They had been trying to get it together since january.
Even though I was frustrated, I will continue to go.
bizi
I know we are lucky to have this training.
One member kept bringing up religion....
heavy sigh
bizi

It's possible that the others do not like bringing up religion either,
especially since it was not part of the training.
PEOPLE SHOULD STAY ON TOP AND NOT WASTE TIME!

What did you think about the presentation? What do you think about the people running the program?


I'm sorry that they didn't think to prepare a visual aid for the meeting, and you got so frustrated
I'm sure that you weren't alone. I think that they will learn from that mistake and you won't have to go through that in the future.

Was the person bringing up religion attending the meeting looking for help/info about the program? I imagine you will run into people with impulse control issues, fixations, etc that will make meetings frustrating sometimes. I'm sure that other people were turned off last night, too. I hope that won't deter you from going

But if it was someone involved in the training who kept bringing up religion, I would address that with Denver.

Thanks Kay,
I have had a rough time before with the support group praying the lords prayer after the meeting. I told them that I was uncomfortable with that.
Later they changed the guidelines to exclude prayer.
At the session last night: yes someone who was a claimed unipolar manic was the one who made ongoing comments/commentary.
I will try to ignore him.

bizi