Peer-to-Peer: NAMI's Recovery Curriculum
Peer-to-Peer is a unique, experiential learning program for people with any serious mental illness who are interested in establishing and maintaining their wellness and recovery. The course was written by Kathryn
Cohan, a person with a psychiatric disability who is also a former provider and manager in the mental health field and a longtime mutual support group member and facilitator. An advisory board comprised of consumer members of
NAMI, in consultation with Joyce Burland, Ph.D., author of the successful NAMI Family-to-Family Education Program, helped guide the curriculum's development.
The Peer to Peer video
that NAMI developed can be seen on Google.com.
By clicking on the link below you can see
the whole 16 minute video online....
Topics include:
Overview of most common mental illnesses
Understanding how symptoms affect thoughts, feelings and behavior
Coping strategies
Relapse prevention planning
Medications and side effects
Relationships & Communication
Addictions, Co-occurring Illness
Spirituality
Stigma & Discrimination
Empowerment & self-advocacy
·Peer-to-Peer consists of ten two-hour units and is taught by
teams of peer teachers, or mentors who are personally experienced at living
well with mental illness. Mentors are trained in weekend-long training
sessions, supplied with teaching manuals, and are paid a stipend for each
course they teach.
Peer-to-Peer participants come away from the course with a binder of hand-out materials, as well as many other tangible resources: an advance directive; a "relapse prevention plan" to help identify tell-tale feelings, thoughts, behavior or events that may warn of impending relapse and to organize for intervention; mindfulness exercises to help focus and calm thinking; and survival skills for working with providers and the general public. Each class contains a combination of lecture and interactive exercise material and closes with Mindfulness Practice (techniques offered to develop and expand awareness). Each class builds on the one before: attendance each week, therefore, is required.
If you are interested in taking the Peer-to-Peer Recovery Course, please call
(520) 459-3228; or (800) 380-2322
Sponsored by NAMI Southeastern Arizona
