Education and
Support
NAMI Texas offers a variety of programs and services directed to mental health consumers,
family members, friends, professionals, other stake holders, and the community at large to
address the mental health needs of Texans. NAMI programs are provided at the local level by
our affiliates.
Education
Education is an essential part of understanding and coping with mental illness. NAMI Texas
currently provides numerous educational programs addressing the many needs of different
constituencies.
Family Education
NAMI Family to Family
NAMI Family-to-Family (F2F) is a free 12-week education program for families, partners and
friends of individuals with severe mental illnesses. This series of weekly classes is structured to
help caregivers understand and support individuals with serious mental illnesses while
maintaining their own well-being. The course is taught by trained family members who know
what it’s like to have a loved one struggling with one of these brain disorders.
Visions For Tomorrow
Visions for Tomorrow (VFT) is a free education program that addresses many of the needs our
families have when raising children and adolescents with mental illness. Taught by primary
caregivers, VFT classes offer families a safe and supportive place to share experiences and learn
from other adults who care for children and adolescents with mental illness. Primary caregivers
include not only parents, but grandparents, aunts, uncles, and foster parents, as well. By
providing education, empathy and empowerment, families will now have the tools to build
visions for their family’s tomorrow. Topics include types of mental illnesses and emotional
disorders as well as instruction on coping skills, dealing with schools, and how to be an
advocate. This program is taught in several formats; 8-week, 10-week or 3 weekends.
Great Minds Think Alike– GMTA
Great Minds Think Alike (GMTA) is a free education program for youth, ages 12 – 17, diagnosed
with mental illness. GMTA is designed to provide youth with the skills necessary to take a
leadership role in their own recovery and to aid others who suffer from the symptoms of mental
illness. Through GMTA, youth begin to understand their symptoms; positive and appropriate
interventions for their symptoms; and through the interventions, a reduction in the stigma they
face. GMTA also helps youth learn to cope with their diagnosis and find success in their daily
lives. It provides an easy to understand workbook to learn from and refer to; opportunities to
build relationships with other youth who have similar symptoms; and, despite the barriers, an
approach to leading healthy and productive lives. This program is taught in several formats; 8week, 10-week or 3 weekends.
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NAMI Basics
NAMI Basics is a free 6-week education program specifically for parents and other caregivers of
children and adolescents who have either been diagnosed with a serious mental illness/serious
emotional disturbance, or who are experiencing symptoms but have not yet been diagnosed. The
NAMI Basics course is taught by trained teachers who are the parent or caregiver of individuals
who developed the symptoms of mental illness prior to the age of 13 years.
Partnerships
Partnerships is a free 4-week education program that allows teams comprised of family
members and professionals to provide collaborative educational workshops. The central concept
of this program is one of mutually shared respect for the experience and knowledge of families
and professionals. Partnerships is comprised of four workshops that provide essential, while
basic, “need to know” information for a family that has just recently or is currently dealing with
their first experience with a mental illness diagnosis, crisis or hospitalization. Partnerships is an
impactful teaching device to hospitals, psychiatric hospitals and facilities, in-patient, residential
care facilities, transitional organizations and facilities.
Consumer Education
NAMI Peer–to–Peer
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) is a free 10-week, peer led, recovery education program open to any person
with a serious mental illness who wish to live well in their recovery. The course offers a
comprehensive understanding of serious mental illness with topics ranging from stigma to
relapse prevention to advocacy and much more.
NAMI In Our Own Voice: Living With Mental Illness
In Our Own Voice: Living with Mental Illness (IOOV) is a unique 1-1/2 hour public education
presentation that offers insight into the hope and recovery now possible for people with severe
mental illness. Trained individuals with mental health challenges lead a brief yet comprehensive
and interactive presentation about mental illness. The presentation includes a video, personal
testimony, and discussion between the presenters and the audience. The testimonies put a face
on mental illness while informing the audience of how people with mental illness recover and
reclaim productive lives.
Support
NAMI Texas affiliates provide regular support groups for consumers, family members and
others affected by mental illness.
NAMI Family Support Group
Formerly called the “Family-to-Family Support Group”, this support group meets on a weekly,
bi-weekly or monthly basis. Family members and friends receive support from each other by
sharing their experience, strength and hope while caring for a loved one who has a mental illness.
NAMI Connection Recovery Support Group
NAMI Connection is a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly 90-minute recovery support group for
people living with mental illness in which people learn from each others’ experiences, share
coping strategies, and offer each other encouragement and understanding. NAMI Connection
groups are facilitated by persons who live with mental illness for other persons with any
diagnosis who also live with mental illness.
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For Professionals
Visions For Tomorrow Professional In–service
Visions for Tomorrow Professional In-service program offers 6 hours of continuing education
training for professionals that interact with children or adolescents that have been diagnosed with
a mental illness or who are experiencing symptoms but have not yet been diagnosed. This
program provides professionals not only with specific information about brain biology and brain
disorders, but also communication tools and an understanding of how mental illness impacts the
family. In particular, it provides an approach to problem management that professionals find
very useful when working with children and their families.
NAMI Parents and Teachers as Allies
The NAMI Parents and Teachers as Allies in-service program offers 2-1/2 hours of continuing
education training for teachers and school professionals, helping them to recognize and identify
early-onset mental illness in children and adolescents. The presentation is conducted by parents
and consumers who have had to negotiate mental illness within the school system.
NAMI Provider Education
NAMI Provider Education in-service program offers 15 hours of continuing education training
to line staff at public mental health agencies, taught by a trained 5-member team of family
members, consumers and a mental health provider who is either a family member or a consumer.
This course emphasizes the lived experience of mental illness, expands compassion for the daily
realities of this heroic struggle, and prepares staff members to practice a collaborative
consumer/provider/family treatment team model of care.
Veterans
Operation Resilient Families (ORF)
Operation Resilient Families (ORF) is an education and support program for veterans of Iraq,
Afghanistan and their families. The program is an eight-session peer-led group focused on
enhancing family resilience through a process designed to help prevent overwhelming
readjustment challenges. ORF teaches participants how to use communication and problemsolving skills, and develop a personalized Family Resilience Plan for use in addressing their
specific family circumstances.
**ORF is not a traditional NAMI peer-provided program. It is not a program designed for
individuals with serious mental illness and is not available through NAMI Affiliates. ORF,
originally created by NAMI Waco, was gifted to NAMI Texas. As a leader in providing peer-led
trainings, NAMI Texas was selected to contract with the Department of State Health Services to
deliver training to peer-led teams, consisting of a veteran and a family member with war zone
post-deployment experience. ORF is offered through designated community mental health
centers across Texas.
For information on any of these programs, please contact the NAMI Texas Education Director
Patti Haynes
512-693-2000
phaynes@namitexas.org.
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