Breaking Down Stigma - Educational Outreach
In Our Own Voice & Parents and Teachers as Allies
Click on the video above to learn more about NAMI's In Our Own Voice Speakers Program.
In Our Own Voice: Living with Mental Illness (IOOV)
IOOV is a unique presentation that offers insight into the hope and recovery now possible for people with severe mental illness. What makes the program unique is the human face it puts on mental illness. Hear from people who have struggles with disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, and other severe mental illnesses. They invite you into discussion as they share their personal experiences.
In Our Own Voice shatters stereotypes about people with severe mental illnesses. Learn from men and women whose lives were interrupted by illness, but who are now role models for hope and recovery!
In Our Own Voice shatters stereotypes about people with severe mental illnesses. Learn from men and women whose lives were interrupted by illness, but who are now role models for hope and recovery!
Parents & Teachers as Allies -
Inservice Program for School Professionals
Did you know
One in five children meet the criteria for a mental disorder across their lifetime?
"The prevalence of severe emotional and behavior disorders is even higher than the most frequent major physical conditions in adolescence, including asthma or diabetes, which have received widespread public health attention." October 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP).
For School Teachers & Other School Professionals
Parents and Teachers as Allies
In-Service Mental Health Education for School Professionals
NAMI-FAMILYA is delighted to announce our Parents and Teachers as Allies in-service mental health education program for school professionals. This two-hour in-service program focuses on helping school professionals and families within the school community better understand the early warning signs of mental illnesses in children and adolescents and how best to intervene so that youth with mental health treatment needs are linked with services. It also covers the lived experience of mental illnesses and how schools can best communicate with families about mental health related concerns.
This program responds to the recommendations included in Goal 4 of President Bush’s New Freedom Commission report on mental health that calls for schools to play a larger role in the early identification of mental health treatment needs in children and in linking them to appropriate services. Our program is based on NAMI’s highly successful Parents and Teachers as Allies (P&TA) publication.
The components of the in-service education program for school professionals include the following:
1. Welcome and Introductions – an education professional, who is also a family member, welcomes the school professionals and introduces the topics to be covered, often with a personal story.
2. Early Warning Signs of Mental Illnesses – a facilitator walks the school professionals through the early warning signs of mental illnesses, closely following the P&TA publication.
3. Family Response – a parent or caregiver of a child with mental illness covers the predictable stages of emotional reactions among family members dealing with the challenges of mental illness and the lived experience of raising a child with a mental illness.
4. Living with Mental Illness – a mental health consumer that experienced the early onset of mental illness shares a view from the inside, including a discussion about the positive and negative impact that their school experience had on their life.
5. Group Discussion
6. Closing Remarks and Evaluation
This program is designed for teachers, administrators, school health professionals and others in the school community. The program is designed to target schools in urban, suburban, rural, and culturally diverse communities.
NAMI is working with the University of Maryland on the evaluation component to measure the program’s success and to help ensure continuous quality and program improvement.
NAMI-FAMILYA is delighted to announce our Parents and Teachers as Allies in-service mental health education program for school professionals. This two-hour in-service program focuses on helping school professionals and families within the school community better understand the early warning signs of mental illnesses in children and adolescents and how best to intervene so that youth with mental health treatment needs are linked with services. It also covers the lived experience of mental illnesses and how schools can best communicate with families about mental health related concerns.
This program responds to the recommendations included in Goal 4 of President Bush’s New Freedom Commission report on mental health that calls for schools to play a larger role in the early identification of mental health treatment needs in children and in linking them to appropriate services. Our program is based on NAMI’s highly successful Parents and Teachers as Allies (P&TA) publication.
The components of the in-service education program for school professionals include the following:
1. Welcome and Introductions – an education professional, who is also a family member, welcomes the school professionals and introduces the topics to be covered, often with a personal story.
2. Early Warning Signs of Mental Illnesses – a facilitator walks the school professionals through the early warning signs of mental illnesses, closely following the P&TA publication.
3. Family Response – a parent or caregiver of a child with mental illness covers the predictable stages of emotional reactions among family members dealing with the challenges of mental illness and the lived experience of raising a child with a mental illness.
4. Living with Mental Illness – a mental health consumer that experienced the early onset of mental illness shares a view from the inside, including a discussion about the positive and negative impact that their school experience had on their life.
5. Group Discussion
6. Closing Remarks and Evaluation
This program is designed for teachers, administrators, school health professionals and others in the school community. The program is designed to target schools in urban, suburban, rural, and culturally diverse communities.
NAMI is working with the University of Maryland on the evaluation component to measure the program’s success and to help ensure continuous quality and program improvement.
Parents and Teachers as Allies - Inservice Program for School Personnel - Brochure
NAMI-FAMILYA's Vision
NAMI-FAMILYA envisions a community in which people living with mental illness are afforded respect, dignity, and opportunity; where there is wellness and a meaningful life; where there is equal access to health services for all, regardless of ethnic, cultural, or financial status; and where all people are afforded the same right to employment, housing, and the pursuit of happiness in their personal lives. To help us realize this vision, we have many courageous and dedicated volunteers, individuals living with psychiatric disorders and family members, who go out into the community to share their stories. The stories of their dark days, hope and recovery. Individuals and families that are living proof that recovery is possible!
NAMI-FAMILYA provides free educational speakers programs to the public. Our goal is to break down the stigma that surrounds psychiatric disorders, which so often can be a barrier to many individuals getting help.
NAMI-FAMILYA provides free educational speakers programs to the public. Our goal is to break down the stigma that surrounds psychiatric disorders, which so often can be a barrier to many individuals getting help.