Class 1: Introduction
• Introduction to NAMI Family-to-Family
• Participant introductions
• Discrimination, stigma and bias toward mental health illness
• Impact of mental health conditions on the family
• Predictable emotional responses to the mental health conditions

Class 2: Understanding Mental Health Conditions and Preparing for Crisis
• Positive and negative symptoms of mental health conditions
• The brain
• Genetics and inherited risks
• Environmental factors
• Preparing for and responding to crises
• Self-harm and suicide
• Crisis File

Class 3: Getting a Mental Health Diagnosis and Sharing Our Stories
• Public and private health care services
• Challenges when seeking a diagnosis
• Getting a diagnosis
• Understanding the diagnosis
• Advocating for care
• Reevaluating a diagnosis
• False beliefs about mental health conditions and violence
• Sharing our stories

Class 4: Overview of Mental Health Conditions

• Holistic health care
• Cultural sensitivity in health care
• The difference between episodes and disorders
• Depressive disorder
• Bipolar disorder
• Psychotic episodes and first episode psychosis
• Schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Anxiety disorders
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Borderline personality disorder
• Co-occurring mental health conditions and substance use disorders
• Anosognosia: lack of insight

Class 5: Treatment Strategies & Options
• Navigating systems
• Comprehensive approaches
• Collaborative care
• Treatment options
• Treatment settings
• Psychotherapeutic interventions
• Treatment providers
• Medication
• Hospitalization and Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT)
• Warning signs of relapse
• Biomedical approaches
• Complementary health approaches

Class 6: Communication Skills and Problem Solving
• Communication skills
• Communication guidelines
• I-statements
• Reflective responses
• Problem-solving skills
• Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS)

Class 7: Empathy and Recovery
• Psychological impact of mental health conditions
• Psychological pain associated with any serious illness
• Protecting self-esteem with defensive coping strategies
• Guidelines for offering empathy
• Historical ideas of recovery
• Defining recovery
• The role of rehabilitation in mental health recovery
• Innovative approaches to rehabilitation
• Supported employment
• Recovery is different for everyone

Class 8: Moving Forward
• Challenges associated with mental health conditions
• Family roles and perspectives
• Talking about difficult emotions
• Ways to take care of ourselves
• Celebration and graduation

If you are interested in taking the course, please contact us (call 604-926-0856 or email programs@pathwayssmi.org) for 2024 registration information and course dates.