Nami Tulare County

Programs: Education, support and advocacy: nami tulare county education programs offer knowledge and training for persons with mental illness and their family members. These programs provide peer led education and support service to members and the general public including relevant information, valuable insight and the opportunity to engage in support networks. The programs draw on the lived experience of people with mental illnesses and their family members who have learned to live with their illnesses and have had special training of how to help others affected by mental illness. Nami connections is a recovery support group for adults with mental illness regardless of their diagnosis. Every group is offered free of charge and meets weekly for 90 minutes. The meetings are led by trained individuals who are also in recovery; people who understand the challenges faced. Nami family/friends support groups in porterville and visalia are free, monthly meetings of family members and friends of persons with mental illness. Participants can talk frankly about their challenges and help one another through their learned wisdom. These meetings are facilitated by trained nami members and participants are encouraged to share actively in the work of the group. Monthly nami tulare county general meetings are held at least 8 times per year to inform the public and members of the pertinent events and actions in the community, state and nation that may concern individuals with mental illness and their families. At regular intervals, educational speakers with knowledge about different aspects of mental illness are invited to inform the public and our membership about areas of interest. Family to family is a free, 12 week course for families, partners and friends of persons with mental illnesses taught by trained nami tulare county family members and caregivers of persons living with mental illnesses. The course is taught in both english and spanish and dwells on the emotional responses families have to the trauma of mental illness and the nuts and bolts of how to navigate their new life affected by mental illness. Many family members describe their experience in the program as life-changing. The english program is presented in porterville and visalia, california. The spanish program is presented in tulare, california. Ending the silence is a 50-minute program designed for student audiences and is typically pressented to 7th through 12th grade health classes during the mental health portion of the curriculum. This transformational program is devoted to giving students an opportunity to learn about mental illness and suicide thruogh an informative powerppoint, short videos, and personal testimony. Through the presentation, students learn symptoms and indicators of mental illness, and are given ideas about how to help themselves, friends, or family members who may be in need of support. This class emphasizes the prevalence of stigma associated with mental illlness. This is offered throughout tulare county. Walk with nami tulare county is an event to promote awareness of services available from nami tulare county, to reduce stigma of mental illness, and to encourage persons with mental illness to seek treatment. Funds raised are used to provide advocacy, support and education to persons with a mental illness, family members, and friends of persons with a mental illness in tulare county. Crisis intervention team (cit) training is a forty hour class for sheriffs, police enforcement officers, police dispatchers, and correctional officers in tulare county. Nami tulare county participates by providing members for teaching the participants, issues and concerns of people with mental illness and their family members/friends. These people either have a mental illness or are a family member or friend who have had contact with law enforcement when there was a mental health crisis. We utilize the family to family voices exercise to demonstrate the voices some people hear when they have schizoprhenia or psychosis. We also tell our story using our personal experiences of how we felt when we had an interaction with police and correctional officers during a mental health crisis. The nami tulare county coordinator reviews resources that nami tulare county provides to the community including law enforcement, for education, support and advocacy. He/she coordinates the nami presentation and acts as one of the evaluators of the 40 hour program. The monthly newsletter informs members of the organizations actions and notices of upcoming events that are of interest to members and other interested individuals of the community. It also updates recipients of appropriate scientific finding affecting persons affected by mental illness. The holiday sack outreach program provides purchased and donated items including oranges in holiday sacks and distributes them to approximately 350 low income people with mental illness in tulare county. The sacks are filled and distributed by nami tulare county member volunteers. Many persons with a mental illness eagerly await this holiday event and welcome the volunteers with open arms. Community health fairs and events: nami tulare county participates in community health fairs and events throughout tulare county providing information about nami tulare county, mental illnesses and mental health while promotong wellness and recovery for anyone with a mental illness.