The NAMI Michigan Families in Action course is a ten-week family education course that is specific to Michigan. Families in Action focuses on helping family members learn to deal with the grief and loss that happens when someone in your immediate family or circle of friends is diagnosed with some type of mental illness, a serious and persistent mental illness or another psychiatric diagnosis, as an adult.

Families in Action helps family members, friends, relatives and others learn what happens when the family cycle is interrupted, as it sometimes either stops or slows when a person is diagnosed with some type of mental illness. What that means is that the course helps people realize and deal with the impact that life may never be quite the same again. With some people there is a question as to whether or not their family member will be able to return to school, work, raise a family or be able to live independently.

Families in Action is designed to help the family and (through the family) help the individual with the diagnosis to cope with the trauma of a psychiatric diagnosis. Although having a name for what is going wrong can be helpful, finding out that you or a family member or friend has a serious illness is still potentially traumatic. Families in Action focuses on the stress that interrupts people’s lives when dealing with diagnoses such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety and/or Depression.

Class sizes are limited. If you are interested in participating in Families in Action, make a reservation ahead of time. Reservations are made on a first come first served basis.

Course Goals:

To help family members understand how mental illness effects the family unit To help family members understand mental illness Learn how to more effectively deal with signs and symptoms Learn how to help the diagnosed family member become as happy, healthy and independent as possible To become knowledgeable about how to be an effective member of a treatment team To experience a supportive environment and maintain contact with other families after the course is completed To learn how to better cope with stress

The section that focuses on signs and symptoms can be life changing as participants figure out which symptoms are causing the most problems.

Sessions are:

What A Family Wants and Needs Recovery: A Process of Hope Community Resources Signs and Symptoms Medications Stress Communication Skills Dual Diagnosis Dealing with Difficult Symptoms Supporting Recovery

For more information on Families in Action courses around the State of Michigan contact the NAMI Michigan state office at (800) 331-4264 or go to the NAMI MI website for information about local affiliates. In the Detroit Metro Area contact NAMI Metro at (248) 348-7197.