NAMI resources

[Parents! Get help here!]

I took a 6 week class through NAMI a few years ago, and found it incredibly informative and supportive. I hope you find it the same, ray!

[mama72]

I took a 6 week class through NAMI a few years ago, and found it incredibly informative and supportive. I hope you find it the same, ray!

Our objective is to better understand the struggles our child faces and to learn the skills to improve our relationship and provide a supportive environment and also improve on our own emotional responses, attitudes and effectiveness as a family leaders

[HealingSpirit]

Hi Raytamtay,

We found NAMI in our area too.  Dh and I are going to the Family to Family too, which also starts this September.  Let's compare notes after the course.

I am excited as well.  I don't know how I got along before I found all these resources.

[raytamtay3]

Hi Raytamtay,

We found NAMI in our area too.  Dh and I are going to the Family to Family too, which also starts this September.  Let's compare notes after the course.

I am excited as well.  I don't know how I got along before I found all these resources.

How cool! Different state but the same course during the same time period! Yes, will def. compare notes!

[MammaMia]

NAMI deals with a variety of mental illnesses.  Sadly, Family to Family does not include BPD.  Having said that, it is general knowledge about mental illness and was excellent in that regard. It focused on bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, OCD, and many affective disorders that can occur simultaneously with BPD as well as the biological changes occurring in the brain when mental illness is present, regardless of the cause (trauma, genetics, environmental factors, etc.).  I still highly recommend attending.

There is a separate telecommunication-type course for BPD offered by NEA.BPD on-line that was recommended by NAMI, but sadly, it is practically impossible to get into due to the volume of people who want it.  I have been on a waiting list for 6 months and recently received a notice that there was no clear indication of how long it would take to be scheduled.  As an alternative, they did offer a 12 week course on BPD in Virginia but that is not feasible unless you are in that locale.

With BPD so prevalent, I am mystified as to why there is not more help available.  It seems to be the one mental illness no one wants to talk about.  

[Someday . . .]

What Mammamia wrote is well worth paying attention to.  I notice that you live in New Jersey, I am sure that there are Family Connection classes given by NEABPD close by.  I would definitely recommend going to those classes rather than NAMI's.   I went through the Nami's classes and out of their 12 week curriculum BPD is mentioned for about one hour.   It was enjoyable to be around other people who have family members with mental illness, but to be honest, there were 30 people in the class and I was the only one who had a relative with BPD.   In the Family Connections classes through NEABPD, the entire 10 -12 week course is solely devoted to BPD and all the classmates have a relative with BPD.  So, to put it in a nutshell, if you are at all able to get into a Family Connections class it would be well worth your while!  Good Luck!

[sunshineplease]

I also found the NAMI 12-week Family-to-Family program very helpful. They had to give me kind of special dispensation to attend, since my child didn't have a diagnosis on the list MammaMia enumerated above. Very nice folks, and a lot of great information on everything from prescription medications to communication and care-giver self-care. I especially appreciated thee anecdotal stuff on how people manage the health-care system. Really went a long way in helping me feel less alone. (My group also had a very strong emphasis on getting better funding and education for mental illness statewide.)