NAMI's Family-to-Family Program

Family-to-Family is a free program that moves families from despair and isolation to hope and empowerment, as it offers education and support for family members of close relatives with the following illnesses:

• Major Depression
• Bipolar Disorder (formerly called Manic Depression)
• Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorder
• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Panic Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• Co-Occuring Brain Disorders and Addictive Disorders

The series of 12 weekly classes is structured to help family members understand and support their ill relative while maintaining their own well-being.  In addition to gaining knowledge about the above stated mental disorders, class members will be taught coping skills, such as handling crisis and relapse, and get information about medications, listening and communication techniques, problem-solving, recovery and rehabilitation, and self-care in the midst of worry and stress.

Each class member receives a 350 page course notebook. An estimated 250,000 people have completed this national course written by an experienced family member and mental health professionals. The course is taught by teams of trained volunteer family members who know what it is like to have a family member with a serious mental illness. The program is sponsored by MWC and NAMI of Santa Barbara County as well as the California Department of Mental Health and the Santa Barbara County Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Services.

Class members include parents, siblings, children, spouses, and significant others of persons with severe and persistent mental illness. It really does make a difference!

Please call the Mental Wellness Center at (805) 844-8440 for more information about this program. Registration is required.

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