Shirley Matheis

I haven’t had time to read all the posts on this site, but I’d like to offer hope for individuals and families coping with mental illness. If you are not familiar with the education and support provided by NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), you mighty like to check their website: nami.org.   

For the past five years I have been an instructor for the NAMI Family-to-Family course, a free 12-week course for families and close friends of individuals with serious mental illness. The four trained instructors in NW Iowa all have family members with a mental illness, and we teach in pairs. The 65 people who have taken the course express great appreciation for program. 

We also offer a free 10-week NAMI Peer-to Peer Course for individuals with a mental illness, all of whom express gratitude for that course.The three trained instructors are individuals who themselves are coping well with mental illness. 

In addition, the NAMI Support Group for both family members and those with mental illness has been meeting once a month for more than three years. Meetings include educational programs and a time for confidential sharing and support. Almost one hundred people have come once, sporadically, or regularly. Average monthly attendance the first year was ten; so far this year it is twenty. 

The NAMI website provides a wealth of information, including a section titled “NAMI FaithNet” with suggestions for ways in which churches can be supportive of individuals and families dealing with mental illness.

There are NAMI affiliates across the U.S. Check to see if there’s one near you and if courses are being offered this fall. (Sorry, Randy, there are none in Alberta. Maybe I’ll have to teach it in Neerlandia some day!)