NAMI Albany offers free Family-to-Family classes

ALBANY — NAMI Albany, the local affiliate of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and NAMI Georgia, will offer Family-to-Family this fall for the 13th consecutive year. The classes will begin on Aug. 22 and continue for eight Monday evenings.

NAMI Family-to-Family is an eight-session education program for family, significant others and friends of people with mental health conditions. It is a designated evidenced-based program. This means that research shows that the program significantly improves the coping and problem-solving abilities of the people closest to a person with a mental health condition.

Like all NAMI programs, Family-to-Family is free of cost to participants. NAMI Family-to-Family is taught by NAMI-trained family members who have been there, and includes presentations, discussions and interactive exercises.

The group setting of NAMI Family-to-Family provides mutual support and shared positive impact — experience compassion and reinforcement from people who understand others’ situation. Sharing an experience may help others in each class. In the program, participants learn about:

♦ How to solve problems and communicate effectively;

♦ Taking care of themselves and managing stress;

♦ Supporting a loved one with compassion;

♦ Finding and using local supports and services;

♦ Up-to-date information on mental health conditions and how they affect the brain;

♦ How to handle a crisis;

♦ Current treatments and therapies;

♦ The impact of mental health conditions on an entire family.

For more information, contact NAMI Albany at [email protected] or (229) 329-1444 Registration is under way, and space is limited to 20 participants.

Special Logo