Peer-to-Peer: NAMI's Recovery Curriculum

Special Multicultural and Youth Outreach in the Sacramento Area: Peer-to-Peer in Underserved Communities

NAMI Sacramento is reaching reach out to the consumer communities in our area that are unserved or underserved. In coordination with a generous grant from NAMI California, we wish to reach multicultural communities and youth in the Sacramento area. Come to our Peer-to-Peer program and benefit from the educational and empowering opportunities it offers!

Who is this course for?

Peer-to-Peer is a unique, nine-week experiential learning program for people with any serious mental illness who are interested in establishing and maintaining their wellness and recovery.

Who designed the course?

The course was written by Kathryn Cohan, a person with a psychiatric disability who is also a former provider and manager in the mental health field and a longtime mutual support group member and facilitator. An advisory board comprised of consumer members of NAMI, in consultation with Joyce Burland, Ph.D., author of the successful NAMI Family-to-Family Education Program, helped guide the curriculum's development.

Who teaches it?

Peer-to-Peer consists of nine two-hour units and is taught by a team of three trained consumer "mentors" who are personally experienced at living well with mental illness. Mentors are trained in weekend-long training sessions, supplied with teaching manuals, and are paid a stipend for each course they teach.

What does it provide?

The Peer-to-Peer course provides an opportunity for consumers to discuss a variety of topics within a supportive group of peers. Participants come away from the course with a binder of hand-out materials, as well as many other tangible resources:

• an advance directive
• a "relapse prevention plan" to help identify tell-tale feelings, thoughts, behavior or events that may warn of impending relapse and to organize for intervention
• mindfulness exercises to help focus and calm thinking
• survival skills for working with providers and the general public

Course content

Each class contains a combination of lecture and interactive exercise material and closes with Mindfulness Practice (techniques offered to develop and expand awareness). Because each class builds on the one before, attendance each week is required.

See the weekly course topic list at right.

Register for the class or become a mentor

Register online to take Peer-to-Peer training. You can also register to become a mentor teacher.