Building blocks of empathy, understanding | News - Plattsburgh Press Republican

PLATTSBURGH — Family to Family is a lifesaver for those with a loved one with a mental illness.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Champlain Valley presents the 12-week program starting Wednesday, Feb. 6.

“This is something we try to do on a semi-regular basis, but we need to have a certain number of people in order to make the class worthwhile,” said Theresa Bennett, a trained facilitator.

“It’s for any loved one of a person with a major mental illness. That can be a friend. That can be a parent. It doesn’t need to be a caregiver.”

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

The program is not for people who have a mental illness.

“This is an educational opportunity for people who live with someone or have a loved one in their life and would like to learn more about what it feels like for the person to have a major mental illness,” she said.

“It’s geared toward people who are loved ones because they’re the ones who need to have the most knowledge.”

Family to Family offers many coping skills, along with a supportive environment.

“We certainly welcome anyone, but usually it’s people who have a loved one with a diagnosis. People go through mental hygiene episodes in their lives, but there’s a difference between that and having a major biological mental illness.

“It’s a brain disorder, and that’s going to be chronic, and that person is going to be dealing with for the rest of their life,” Bennett said.

“So that’s what the course is mainly aimed towards, but we’re happy to have anyone who would like to learn more about mental illness.

CHANGES LIVES

Family to Family is a nationally evidence-based course recommended by the National Institute for Mental Health.

“It’s about 30 years old, and it was written by the parent of a young lady with schizophrenia. (That parent) wanted to reach out to other people who were in her situation, which is, ‘How do I help them deal with it, and how do I deal with this in my life?’” Bennett said.

“Because when a loved one gets a diagnosis of a major mental illness, it changes everybody’s life.

“Everybody who cares about that person, their life is changed forever because there’s just a lot that needs to be done, a lot that needs to be coped with.”

DIAGNOSIS SHOCK

A diagnosis usually shocks everyone involved.

Obviously, the person who gets the diagnosis, but also those in that person’s sphere.

“You kind of go through this ‘crisis mentality,’” Bennett said.

“You’re dealing with the illness, trying to find psychiatrist, trying to find treatment, and then you get to the point where you want to learn more about what’s going on.”

Mental illnesses tend to be cyclical — a family makes their way through one crisis or episode, lands on an even keel, and then another crisis will strike.

“It’s rare for it to be a one-time episode,” Bennett said.

“At least when I took the class, I wanted to know when my son became ill again how was I going to be able to deal with it better, with knowledge and all of those kinds of things.”

A SAFE PLACE

It’s difficult for people to attend the course if they are in crisis, but the course’s two-and-half hour window could be a respite.

“A lot of people find it a safe place for them to be,” she said.

“Something that I like to tell people is that by the second or third week, we’re doing a little bit of laughing, which people hadn’t (done) in a long time.”

The participants share similar stories in a confidential setting.

“As you recognize that understanding in other people, there’s an ability to relax,” she said.

“Everything that is said in there, obviously, is confidential. Nothing leaves the room. It gives people a chance to talk about their own.”

COURSE TOPICS

The course is structured to assist participants to learn about major mental disorders such as schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorder (manic depression), panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, borderline personality disorder and co-occurring brain disorders and addictive disorders.

Participants will receive up-to-date information about medications, side effects and strategies for medication adherence.

“Getting people to stay on medications, which is the No. 1 greatest difficulty, and dealing with those side effects,” Bennett said.

“We go into current research on brain disorders. We do a lot of empathy training with people who are there so that they can understand what their loved ones might be going through.

“Much as we love them, we are not inside their head,” she said, “and we don’t know what they are experiencing. So, empathy is a really important part of it.”

Special workshops give insights for problem solving, listening, communication techniques, accessing community resources, handling crisis and where to seek help.

“It’s cyclical,” Bennett said of mental illness.

“So once we’re into the illness we understand that a crisis may well happen at any time. It’s something that they have to learn to live with and we have to learn to live with.”

FROM CRISIS TO ADVOCACY

Loved ones of people with mental illness tend to go from crisis mode to seeking information to advocacy.

How can you advocate in the system?

How can you advocate locally?

How can you advocate statewide?

“We go into a little bit of that,” Bennett said.

“Most people are not at that stage yet, so when they are ready for that they know where to come to find out how to get more involved.”

Former class participants have become NAMI Board members, launched fundraisers or wellness activities to raise awareness.

“You realize that there’s this whole community of people out there that are dealing with the same thing, then you want to help out as much as you possibly can,” Bennett said.

BUILDING BLOCKS

Participants have to commit to attending as many of the classes as they can.

“It builds from week one to week 12. We can’t really take people in after the second class or so,” she explained.

“It builds on relationships among the people who are there and telling our stories. It builds on knowledge from week to week to week. It’s a very, very structured class.”

Much of the class is listening to the material written by the author.

“The woman who wrote the class knows how to say things in a way that gets through to people who has a loved one with mental illness,” Bennett said.

For more information or to register, contact Carrie Levasseur at 518-561-2685.

Email Robin Caudell:

rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

Twitter:@RobinCaudell

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