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NAMI EASTSIDE |
Peer-to-Peer Education Program Peer-to-Peer is a free nine week -- two hours per week -- experiential education course on recovery for any person with serious mental illness who is interested in establishing and maintaining wellness. The course is similar to NAMI's Family-to-Family Education Course, in that it is based upon the idea that living with serious mental illness is, among many other things, an experience of trauma, and the recovery path occurs in predictable stages. The course is designed to offer an opportunity for growth regardless of individual stage, and the diversity of experience among course participants affords for a lively dynamic that moves the course along. Courses are taught by teams of three trained "mentors," or peer-teachers, who are themselves experienced at living well with mental illness. The course uses a combination of lecture, interactive exercises and structured group processes to promote awareness, provide information, and offer opportunities to reflect on the impact of mental illness as it expresses itself uniquely through each participant's life. Relapse prevention plans are devised in the first six weeks of the program, in order that participants gain knowledge, insight and coping strategies for living with their disorders. Practical wisdom is featured on topics as diverse as "the care and feeding of your psychiatrist" and "how to get a good night's sleep." Each week builds upon the previous week's explorations, bringing participants through a progression of awareness that has its roots in the universals of experience associated with the process of recovery with serious mental illness. Pre-registration for the free NAMI Eastside Peer-to-Peer course is required. For more information contact 425-885-NAMI (6264) or consumers@nami-eastside.org. NAMI Eastside also sponsors a Family-to-Family Education Program.
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