With Hope in Mind (WHM)
The With Hope in Mind course provides the basic education and skill training needed to cope with the difficulties associates with caring for adult relatives who are mental health consumers.  With Hope in Mind offers helpful skill-building classes, such as problem management, communication and crisis planning, and provides care givers with immediate coping skills for dealing with the different cycles of each illness.  It also provides the practical and emotional support needed by care providers in the mental health system.  With Hope in Mind offers two components:  education and support groups.  Participating in both parts of the program gives family members the most benefit, but family members are welcome to take part in either or both.  With Hope in Mind is a free, 8-session course taught by trained family members.

Beginnings/NAMI Basics:
Based on the With Hope in Mind program, Beginnings/NAMI Basics provides a wealth of information for primary care providers of a child or adoloscent with mental illness.  Many primary caregivers are parents, but grandparents, aunts, uncles, respite care providers and foster parents attend Beginnings/NAMI Basics classes, too.  The classes offer a safe, supportive place to share experiences and learn valuable lessons from other adults who care for children with mental disorders.

In Beginnings/NAMI Basics classes, students learn about brain biology and specific brain disorders such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Conduct Discorder, Bipolar Disorder, Depressive Disorder, Eating Disorders, Anxiety, Panic, Schizophrenia, Post-Tramatic Stress and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.  Additionally, students learn these essential coping skills:

• Communication
• Coping with Self-Care
• Problem Management
• Advocacy and Stigma
• Organization and Record-Keeping

Beginnings is a free, 8-session course taught by
NAMI-trained people who are also primary care
providers for a young person with mental illness.




Breaking The Silence:
Breaking The Silence is a series of innovative lessons designed to put a human face on mental illness and confront the myths that reinforce the stigma and silence surrounding them.  Through age appropriate lesson plans students learn:

• It is biology, not a character flaw that causes mental illness
• Mental illness has never been more treatable
• The warning signs of mental illness
• How to overcome the stigma that surrounds mental illness

• For upper elementary, middle school, and high school
• Fully scripted and come with suggested activities
• Accompanied by eye catching posters or a board game
• Designed to be used for one hour or can be extended for several days

Parents and Teachers as Allies (PTA)
This two hour in-service program for school teachers is a NAMI National Signature program.  The program is presented by a panel consisting of an educator, NAMI facilitator, a parent of a child diagnosed with mental illness, and a mental health consumer who lived through the process of growing up with mental illness.  The coordinated team approach provides a spectrum of experiences designed to enhance understanding of and empathy for children who live daily with experiences profoundly different from the average child.

We also highly recommend another program, BRIDGES.

BRIDGES:  For people with a diagnosis of major mental illness.

BRIDGES (Building Recovery of Individual Dreams and Goals through Education and Support), a program administered by the Tennessee Mental Health Consumer's Association (TMHCA), provides education and support to mental health consumers.  The world of mental disorders is difficult and confusing, especially for those directly experiencing illness.  BRIDGES is designed to assist you, or someone you love, on the journey back to sense of self and purpose.  BRIDGES provides hope, information and coping skills.

Consumers training in the BRIDGES method share common experiences and offer tools to help others build personal bridges to recovery.  Support groups are directed by trained class members who are themselves in recovery.  They are free and available to everyone who has a diagnosis of mental illness.  Many BRIDGES courses are taught in peer support centers across the state.

Support groups use a person-to-person approach to provide consumers with opportunities to learn and practice coping skills.  One consumer described BRIDGES this way:  "We learn that we are not alone.  Our experiences, when shared, can be a foundation for recovery."

For more information about BRIDGES, visit the