Who we are and what we do
We support families
Founded in the United States in 1979, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is a non-profit, grassroots, self-help, support and advocacy organization of consumers, families, and friends of people with severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and anxiety disorders. Since its inception, NAMI has been dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness.
The work of NAMI in the United States is comparable to the work done in Canada by the Canadian Mental Health Association.
In Ontario, the Family-to-Family Programs focus solely on education and support. These programs are offered by different agencies as described under Course Locations.
It is due to the dedicated efforts of the late Judi Rollo, one of the leading advocates, that the NAMI Family-to-Family Programs are offered in Ontario. From 1997 to 2008, Judi was the mind, heart and soul of NAMI; the driving force that led the program to eventually being offered in other regions in Ontario, and in the Montreal West Island area, in Quebec, and to a similar program being offered in Southern Ontario for service providers. Many of us cannot imagine today what it would be like to deal with the chaos, the uncertainty and the lack of support and resources for families who care for a loved one with a serious mental illness without having benefited from the NAMI Family-to-Family Education Program. Judi worked tirelessly to ensure that Ontario families would have access to this wonderful program.
The first
NAMI Family-to-Family Education course was held in Ottawa in 1998, the first city in Canada east of the Rocky Mountains to begin a NAMI Family-to-Family Education Program. It has grown since then to many other regions in Ontario and in the Montreal West Island area, Quebec. Since that first program, we also offer the Provider Education course and we have introduced Basics Education course as a pilot project.
What we do
We are responsible for training leaders across the province to facilitate the NAMI Family-to-Family Education course in their area, on a cost recovery basis. Our Provider Education trainers in Southern Ontario are available to train teaching teams to offer that course to health care professionals and others in the community who, as part of their work, come into contact with people with mental illness. We introduced the Basics Education course in Sarnia as a pilot project, and as soon as our trainers receive their certification from NAMI USA, we will be able to offer that course to other areas in Ontario. We also provide Support Group Facilitation skills to people who wish to facilitate a support group. In Ottawa, we also provide oversight of the courses offered by the different agencies through a licensing agreement we have with NAMI USA.
Who supports us
In Ottawa, the Family-to-Family Education course is sponsored through an annual grant obtained from the Ontario Ministry of Health with the assistance of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Ottawa Branch, which acts as Treasurer for our funding. As part of our funding, we cover the costs of Train-the-Trainers courses given by NAMI USA related to their programs. The Ottawa Branch also provides us with the space to teach the course, receptionist services for callers and other assistance as and when required. The Family-to-Family Programs and oversight of the other regions are entirely administered, promoted and delivered by family members, who work as unpaid volunteers.
Other organizations offering the NAMI programs are responsible for obtaining their own funds to offer the courses within their areas. For information related to local support and resources in Ontario and the Montreal West Island area in Quebec, please click on Course Locations.
The NAMI National website, the web's leading mental illness site, is an invaluable resource for information, breaking news, advocacy, and support. For information about NAMI in the United States, visit their website at www.nami.org.
If you have any questions about NAMI or the education and support we offer to families, please contact Madeleine Bertrand, Director, Family-to-Family Programs, Ontario at f2fprogramsontario@gmail.com.
