Class helps families cope with mental illness

NAMI Barrington Area, an area chapter of the National Alliance for on Mental Illness, will be offering two sections of its well-regarded class, Family-to-Family, beginning in January. Family-to-Family is designed and structured to help participants understand and support individuals with mental illness while maintaining their own well being. The class is free and meets once a week for 12 weeks.

Family-to-Family is for family members, partners, and friends of individuals with major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well as their sometimes co-occurring addictive disorders.

The class uses a curriculum developed by the professional staff at NAMI’s national offices, and it is taught by volunteers who have successfully completed NAMI’s teacher training program and who have a family member with mental illness themselves. Recent studies have shown the class to be very effective in helping families cope with the mental illness of their family member.

Topics include current research in the biology of brain disorders, medications, and strategies for handling crisis and relapse. There will be special workshops in problem solving, listening, and communication techniques, as well as in gaining empathy by understanding the subjective, lived experience of a person with mental illness.

There will be two sections of classes this winter, beginning in January. One will be held in Barrington, and the other at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights. There is no cost to participate in this NAMI Family-to-Family Education Program, but registration is necessary as class size is limited.

For more information, call Maryrose, at (847) 496-1415 or check the NAMI Barrington Area website: namibarringtonarea.org.