Professional/Community Programs

The mission of public schools is to educate all students. However, children with serious emotional disturbances have the highest rates of school failure. Fifty percent of these students drop out of high school, compared to 30% of all students with disabilities. Schools are where children spend most of each day. While schools are primarily concerned with education, mental health is essential to learning as well as to social and emotional development. Because of this important interplay between emotional health and school success, schools must be partners in the mental health care of our children.

Schools are in a key position to identify mental health problems early and to provide a link to appropriate services. Every day more than 52 million students attend over 114,000 schools in the U.S. When combined with the six million adults working at those schools, almost one-fifth of the population passes through the Nation’s schools on any given weekday. Clearly, strong school mental health programs can attend to the health and behavioral concerns of students, reduce unnecessary pain and suffering, and help ensure academic achievement.

President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health; Goal Four

Provider Education Research

When mental health providers involve family members/significant others as part of the treatment team, the outcomes for the consumer and family members are only positive. According to Dixon, MacFarlane et al, the benefits of consumer, family member and provider collaboration include marked reductions in relapse and re-hospitalization rates for individuals served, improved vocational outcomes, improved sense of well-being and confidence among family members and reduced reported hostility.

Community presentations: NAMI-CT is available to provide community groups with information on mental illness – including specific disorders, and our organization. These presentations can be tailored to fit a group’s specific needs and time allotment.

Professional programs: NAMI-CT offers customized professional presentations and in-service programs to meet the needs of a specific organization. Depending upon the time involved, a professional fee may be required.

Parents and Teachers as Allies: An in-service program for mainstream educators and school professionals covering the neurobiological basis of mental illness, the signs and symptoms associated with early onset of serious mental illness in children as well as local and state resources to share with parents. The program is delivered by a trained panel consisting of a family member, consumers, and an educator.

Provider Education:
A two day course which educates mental health professionals about mental illness recovery from the perspectives of the person living with a mental illness and his/her family members. Provider Education is a powerful “stigma busting” tool with the ability to not only provide information to providers, but also to change the minds, attitudes and behaviors of those who attend. This program is a tool in NAMI-CT’s arsenal to support the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services’ (DMHAS) Famly and Significant Other Participation Policy .

Comments from several past attendees include:

“I have learned more than I would have imagined. This program has given me a great respect for the individuals with mental illness.”
“I have known my family member with mental illness for twenty-seven years, and until I took this class I never once looked at him as a “hero” for all that he has been through. The whole class caused me to look at my relative through different eyes!”
“This course motivates me to go back to work each day and try something that I have learned. It provides me with a new perspective, a better understanding and HOPE.”
“Anyone working in the mental health field should be required to take this program as part of their training. It is life changing!

For information on this program please contact Ann Nelson at: familyresearch@namict.org

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