The Mississippi chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness will present a 12-week Family-to-Family education program next month for caregivers of people with mental illness.

If you go

The 12-week Family-to-Family course sponsored by the Mississippi chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness will run from Sept. 3 to Nov. 19. The course will be from 6 to 8:30 each Thursday in the conference room of Warren/Yazoo Mental Health Center, 3444 Wisconsin Ave. For information or to register, call Harriette Mastin at 601-218-0843, Mary Pope at 601-437-3156 or Ann Jensen at 800-357-0388.

The program will be offered from 6 to 8:30 each Thursday night in the conference room of Warren/Yazoo Mental Health Center, 3444 Wisconsin Ave. It will kick off Sept. 3 and wrap up Nov. 19.

Mary Pope, program instructor, said the course will be taught by family members who have taken the class and have been trained to teach. She went through it twice — once in 2006 and again in ’07.

“I really benefited the second year,” she said. “I was emotionally and mentally ready. It made me much more objective. I got out of my emotions.”

The NAMI-sponsored course will give participants information on brain biology, medications and side effects, symptoms, coping skills, self -care and communication skills, said Ann Jensen, NAMI Family and Provider Education coordinator. Instructors have experience with family members who have been diagnosed with mental illness, she added, “so, they definitely understand what the class members are going through.”

The program is free and open to teenage and adult caregivers.

“It becomes a huge emotional and informational support system for families,” said Pope. “Once we get past emotions, we as family members can become advocates.”

NAMI is a nonprofit, advocacy organization that holds support groups at the Warren-Yazoo from 6 to 7:30 p.m. each first Tuesday.

NAMI has operated in Warren County for the past 12 years, Jensen said.

“We hope they will take advantage of the program,” she said. “These support groups are out there for them. We’ve helped hundreds of people and would certainly want to help more.”

For more information or to register, call Harriette Mastin at 601-218-0843, Pope at 601-437-3156 and Jensen at 800-357-0388.

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Contact Tish Butts at tbutts@vicksburgpost.com