Presents:

NAMI Providers Education Program

The NAMI Provider Education Program is a 5-week course that presents a penetrating,
subjective view of family and consumer experiences with serious mental illness to line staff
at public agencies who work directly with people experiencing severe and persistent mental
illnesses.

The course helps providers realize the hardships that families and consumers face and
appreciate the courage and persistence it takes to live with and recover from mental illness.

The Provider Course emphasizes the involvement of consumers and family members as faculty
in provider-staff training. The teaching team consists of five people:

• Two family members trained as Family-to-Family Education Program teachers;
• Two consumers who are knowledgeable about their own mental illness, have a supportive
  relationship with their families, and are dedicated to the process of recovery; and
  
• A mental health professional who is also a family member or consumer.

The course reflects a new knowledge base -- the “lived experiences” of people coping with a mental
illness or caring for someone who lives with a mental illness. Including this deeply personal perspective
creates an appreciable difference in the program’s content. It adds a means of teaching the emotional
aspects and practical consequences of these illnesses to the academic medical information in the
course.

This program is provided free of charge by the Family Support Network.

When: begins Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Time: 6:00 p.m to 9:00 p.m
Where: Community Homes Belleville & Area

Although the course is free, you do need to register. Please call Mental Health Services Hastings &
Prince Edward (613) 967-4734. A facilitator will call you to confirm your registration and answer your
questions.