Peer to Peer

 

The next Peer-to-Peer course will be held in Chico – in the conference room at Adult Services for Butte County Behavioral Health which is at 560 Cohasset Road, Suite 175 (right next to Enloe Behavioral Health) – and classes begin Tuesday, January 8th at 3pm. There are 10 sessions, each lasting 2 hours – from 3 to 5 pm.

For more information or to register, please contact Kristina Kaufman at  (530) 343-7775 or email her at programs@NAMIButteCo.com.


Peer-to-Peer is a unique, experiential learning course for people with any serious mental illness who are interested in establishing and maintaining their wellness and recovery. Peer-to-Peer consists of ten two-hour classes and is taught by a team of two trained “Mentors” and a volunteer support person who are all personally experienced at living well with mental illness.

  • The course was written by Kathryn Cohan McNulty, 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 NAMI consumer members, in consultation with Joyce Burland, Ph.D., author of the successful NAMI Family-to-Family Education program, helped guide the curriculum’s development.
  • The two course “Mentors” are trained in an intensive three day training session and are supplied with teaching manuals.
  • 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 is strongly recommended.
  • 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.

Course Topics:

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.

Week One

Introductions, Stigma, Discrimination, Trauma, begin Relapse Prevention Planning, Mindfulness

Week Two

Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Borderline Personality Disorder; Thoughts, Feelings, Sleep, continue Relapse Prevention Planning, Mindfulness

Week Three

Panic Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Senses, Behavior, continue Relapse Prevention Planning, Mindfulness

Week Four

Story Telling

Week Five

Language, Emotions, Personal Mayhem,; continue Relapse Prevention Planning, Mindfulness

Week Six

Addictions, Spirituality, Why Medicate? Physical Health, complete Relapse Prevention Plans, Mindfulness

Week Seven

“Real World” Coping Strategies, Staying Safe, begin Advance Directive, Cultural Questions, Mindfulness

Week Eight

Family Guest Speaker, Relationships, Allies, “Hot Buttons”, Keeping Safe, continue Advance Directive, Mindfulness

Week Nine

Empowerment, Advocacy, complete Advance Directive, Evaluation, Closing Mindfulness