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Who is NAMI? An Overview of the Programs and Servi ...
Presentation Q&A
Presentation Q&A
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Video Transcription
Thank you, Terry, for such a wonderful presentation and telling us about all the great work that you've been doing at NAMI. Why don't we're going to take a moment to let people send us their questions via the chat box. Why don't we take our first question? It comes from a viewer. It says, is there a cost to the Train the Trainer two-day program? How can someone interested in starting a support group find more information about these trainings? Terrific question. There is not a cost to the individual who attends. We recruit the people who come to the training of trainers from our state organizations and our affiliates. So the first step is making a contact with the NAMI in your state or in your local community. And if you're not sure where that is, you can go to NAMI.org backslash local and you'll see a pop down that asks you to put in your zip code or the city where you live and it will connect you to the NAMI in the nearest area to you. You can also email info at NAMI.org, which is the helpline that I mentioned and they can connect you to the NAMI in your area. So that's the best place to start. They cover the cost. The state and the affiliate organizations cover the cost of getting people trained, but you start with letting them know you're interested at the local level. Great. We have another question that talks about membership. So it reads, does someone have to be a member of NAMI to attend a class or a support group? So essentially, is NAMI a member organization? That's an excellent question, Tristan. We are and we aren't, if that makes any sense. We started as a membership organization, so we still are. We have a membership process where you can join for as little, I believe, as $3 if you want to have a membership in NAMI, which basically gives you access to some of our hard copy newsletters, etc. But you don't have to be a member to take a NAMI class or to attend a NAMI support group or any event. We do require that all of our teachers be NAMI members because we want to make sure they're always, again, it's that fidelity issue. So we're a membership organization, but the majority of the services and benefits that we provide are available to the general public. Here's a somewhat related question about what people can expect when they're attending one of these trainings or classes. And it asks, in what type of facilities or areas are NAMI programs typically held? Again, that's another good question. And the classes and the support groups are all held, they're typically run by the local affiliate or chapter. They're held in a variety of settings. Some of them are held at the NAMI offices if they have a group room, a large meeting room or board room that's available in their facility. Some of them are held in hospital education areas, in classrooms at local hospitals. Some of them are held at libraries or at city halls. Typically we try to find places that won't charge rent for the space. And some are available at churches and at colleges. The NAMI basics classes are frequently taught at schools in the cafeteria. So they're available in a variety of settings that are accessible to the general public in the community. So here's a question about how NAMI can be combined with clinical treatment. I think the idea here is that patient engagement and peer support is such an important part of a holistic approach. But what really is the relationship between NAMI and the clinical team? So it reads, if I were to make a referral to a NAMI program for one of my patients, will they be able to get a follow-up report on whether or not they attended? And I think there's probably a related question around how are they doing? Right. And that's a question that we get occasionally. We more frequently get a question from court systems. We frequently have people who are referred to, for example, take the not parents, who are involved in child custody issues or other abuse court issues with their child, may be court ordered by a judge to attend a class or an individual who is an adult living with a mental illness who is having some type of legal difficulties, their parole or probation officer will require that they attend the course. We don't, because we're not a clinical setting, we don't keep clinical records. We don't provide progress reports, status updates, etc. But if someone is referred to our classes, for example, they get a certificate at the end of the class so they can share that certificate with the person. So we welcome referrals from providers, from the legal system, but we don't have the capacity or the structure to be able to, we don't want to be considered a treatment referral, if you will. We want to see ourselves as kind of a complement or an adjunct to the treatment process that's going on. I have a question, again, it goes back to this idea of using peers as part of the part of treatment for an individual with serious mental illness in this case, and really ask, how do you know when a peer is ready to start leading a class or a course? That's a terrific question. And that's something that we struggle with on a daily basis at NAMI. And it's why primarily when the first question was about, you know, how do I come to be trained? It's why it all starts at the local level. Because part of it is there's an interviewing process, people apply, there's an application process where people apply to become a volunteer. There's an interview process with, and it's more extensive, quite honestly, for the individuals in recovery than it is even for the family members. But we talk to family members, we talk to people in their support system. We're looking at not just how healthy they are or how managed, how well managed are their mental illness symptoms, but we're also looking at, are they at a point in their life where they need to be teaching or facilitating a support group for other peers? You know, for example, I may be doing well, just got out of inpatient treatment. My symptoms are under control, but I'm really mad at my doctor, Tristan Garindo, because of something he did to me when I was there. And I want to be able to teach a class so I can let everybody know just how bad a fella he is. That person's not ready to teach. We want to make sure people are at a point in accepting their condition and embracing their recovery, if you will. So we do quite a bit of training with our affiliates. There's a state program director, for example, that's involved with each of our NAMI state organizations where that's also as part of our train-the-trainer process is training our affiliates in states and how to do the screenings and how to do those assessments. And Terri, you talk a lot about these programs being delivered through the state affiliates. Are all the NAMI programs available at all the states, or does it vary somewhat by location? It varies by location. What NAMI went through, as I mentioned, were three levels, the national, state, and local. We went through a re-affiliation process that just concluded in December, where everyone who called themselves a NAMI affiliate had to be credentialed. And it was really the first time we've done this on a national level in probably 12 years. One of the requirements was that if you call yourself a NAMI affiliate or a NAMI state organization, you offer at least one of the NAMI programs. So every affiliate and state offers at least one. Most of them offer the majority of them, but it does vary from location to location. And part of that is because the local affiliates vary so much in size. Again, larger city affiliates are going to offer the majority of the programs. You may have a smaller affiliate that only has a family support group. And how would a clinician, you know, knowing that there's some heterogeneity around what's available, what would your advice to clinicians be about how to make a referral to a NAMI support group or class? If again, the simplest way is going to nami.org backslash local, where you can find the local NAMI that's in your area. And again, if there's not here in Jackson, Mississippi, if there weren't one that was available here, it would give me the NAMI Mississippi information. So I could call them and let them know what I was looking for. Frequently, and I'll use Mississippi as an example, we're a very rural state. There are only 10 NAMI chapters in the state. But for example, if, and this happens frequently, where you'll have, will have an interest in an area that doesn't have a NAMI chapter, but we can send people from another chapter out to teach a class or run a support group in that community. So again, if you're a provider and you think there's an interest, we would certainly want to talk with you about getting something going in your community. So circling back, it looks like to another topic we talked about previously around peer leaders. We have a question here that talks about clinical backup. Should things get overwhelming for participants in a class or in a program? Can you say something about whether or not there's clinical backup available for peer leaders of these NAMI programs? That's a question that we've gotten from, yes, I can speak to that. And that's a question that we get occasionally, not frequently, but occasionally when a local chapter wants to teach a class or run a support group at a facility, the facility wants to know if they can have a clinician in the room or can they have a clinician outside the door. And again, all of our programs are peer led, but part of that rigorous two-day training weekend where we're training them how to facilitate a group or teach a course, this is for families and for the individuals. Part of that training is training them what they can't do. You're not a therapist, you're not a clinician. How do you know when to call 911? How do you know when to call the local crisis center? So each NAMI affiliate has a backup, a protocol in place for how to get assistance if it's needed in a support group or in a class, but it's not provided there on site. I guess, Terry, you know, given your role within the organization, I was wondering if you could comment a little bit about how these programs are designed, like how, as NAMI is thinking about its long range planning, how do you engage clinicians, engage patients and families to think about what NAMI should be focusing on next and try to stay in sync with the needs of both patients and family members and the general public? And I can respond to that on two different fronts. One will be related to our programs, but the other is much more general. We're actually in the final phases of developing our next strategic plan. And we've spent the last year doing exactly that. There have been, we contracted with a facilitation group that's been leading us through the strategic planning process that's actually held focus groups across the country with family groups, with individuals in recovery groups, but also with professional groups, with stakeholders. You know, what do they think NAMI needs to be doing? What did they think our focus needs to be? Those focus groups have been held in conjunction with NAMI state conferences, with the NAMI national organization, but also just some open call meetings, if you will, that were held in four or five areas across the country to try and do exactly that, Tristan. What should we be doing? What makes NAMI different? Where should we be focusing our energy? So from a big picture perspective, that's happening. I think there were also some surveys that were done, some social media polls that were taken, so besides the in-person focus groups. With our education programs, whenever we add a new program or whenever we are making a change to an existing program, for example, NAMI Basics, the program for parents of children and adolescents, we decided that we needed to develop that when we were getting people coming to the family-to-family class who said, this is great, but my kid's 13. You know, they're not a 40-year-old with schizophrenia, they're a 15 or a 16-year-old with major depression. When we started down the road of developing it, we pulled together an expert advisory group. We looked at leading people in children's mental health across the country, pulled together some family members, pulled together some young adults in recovery. So getting the input in a formal way from the stakeholders informs all of our educational materials. Excellent. We have time for one more question. It comes from a viewer. It's pretty specific, related to one NAMI office. It says, can you provide an update about your NAMI office in Puerto Rico? The internet says it is, quote, rebuilding. I know, Terri, you were at the national office, but do you happen to know anything about where things stand in Puerto Rico? I actually happen, I do, because that's a very hot, hot topic. There was an active NAMI Puerto Rico for years. There was a family-to-family class that was taught down there, support groups. That happens frequently because these are private nonprofits that are each their own independent entity. When there's a change in leadership, there's often a vacuum. If there's not a succession plan and a change in leadership happened, the person who'd kind of run the show for a while, I can't remember where she went, frankly. I think she, I can't remember, but she stepped aside. There wasn't anyone to step in, and then there was the major hurricane that hit. We have been in a, we've had staff who've actually made two trips to Puerto Rico in the past year, trying to pull together stakeholders to get the organization rebuilt down there. It is in rebuild mode. I can't tell you where things are today, but that's kind of been the trajectory of what happened, and it is still going, the efforts to get it started again.
Video Summary
The video features Terry discussing various aspects of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) and its programs. They discuss the Train the Trainer two-day program and how interested individuals can find more information about it. Terry explains that there is no cost to attend the program and that interested individuals should contact their local NAMI affiliate or state organization to get started. They also discuss membership with NAMI and clarify that while membership is available, it is not required to attend the programs and classes offered by NAMI. The video also covers the locations where NAMI programs are typically held, such as NAMI offices, hospitals, libraries, churches, and schools. Additionally, they address the relationship between NAMI and the clinical team, stating that NAMI does not provide clinical backup or reports, but referrals are welcome. Terry also talks about how NAMI ensures that peer leaders are ready and well-prepared to lead classes or support groups, involving an application process and extensive training. They touch on the availability of NAMI programs in different states, as it varies depending on the local NAMI affiliate or chapter. Lastly, Terry discusses NAMI's strategic planning process and the importance of engaging stakeholders in decision-making. They also provide information on the rebuilding efforts of NAMI Puerto Rico following a change in leadership and the impact of a major hurricane. No credits were granted in the video.
Keywords
NAMI programs
Train the Trainer program
NAMI membership
Peer leaders training
NAMI strategic planning
Funding for SMI Adviser was made possible by Grant No. SM080818 from SAMHSA of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, SAMHSA/HHS or the U.S. Government.
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