Group educates family, friends of people with mental illness

By Marie Litalien

For the caregivers of people living with mental illness, education is an important part of coping with everyday issues.

The Families and Friends Education Group offers four sessions monthly, Tuesdays from 6:30 to 8 pm, to help individuals learn about the pressures and stresses of caring for someone with a mental illness.

The group, which is held in the Mental Health and Addictions Program building at 127 Cedar St., takes an educational approach to the issues faced by these caregivers.

Each free session, entitled Families Moving Forward, deals with different topics. Members can choose to join for any or all sessions, and repeat them as frequently as they wish.

Session one contains discussions about the impact of mental illness on families and friends, and aims to promote resilience in families. Managing stigma, confidentiality and stress, as well as setting limits and boundaries, are talked about in session two. The third session provides definitions of mental illness, treatment options, the prevention and handling of a crisis, and self-care tips. Communication skill building is the focus of session four.

Margaret McArthur, Nurse Clinician/Educator at the Mental Health and Addictions Program, is a facilitator for the group.
Part of the learning component is support through each family's experiences, she said. The meetings are more effective with a group of families, as opposed to just one family or individual.

Staff at the Mental Health and Addictions Centre, who had the expertise, time and flexibility to develop the program, run the sessions, McArthur said.

The group is not illness-specific, as are other family support groups in Sudbury, such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

"This one is like a first step for families," McArthur said. "The focus is helping families cope with the impact of a relative with a mental illness."

Individuals who live with mental illness go through stages of recovery, where they begin to understand that something is happening, she said. Every day, they build on knowledge and skills to help them better manage life.

"We believe that families follow a parallel process."

The support group is meant to help families recover from the impact of a mental illness. It is not counselling or therapy, McArthur said.

The group has had from five to 20 people, but a mid-size group is preferred because families can more easily share knowledge. That is the biggest need, McArthur said. It is one thing to talk about methods to help, and it is another to actually hear it first-hand from someone that has been through it.

Anyone connected to an individual with a mental illness can attend the group, whether it is a family member or friend. The person living with the mental illness does not attend the sessions and there is no mention of specific names, to protect confidentiality, McArthur added.

The Family and Friends Education Group members voice their thoughts and opinions through confidential evaluation forms that are filled out at the end of meetings.  For some attendees, the group is self-therapy, McArthur said.

For others, it is knowing they are not alone, she continued. Seeing other people get through hard times makes them confident they can too.

The support program values their role as family members, which in turn validates their strengths, group members have said.

People are referred to the group by staff, but mainly by word of mouth from physicians, the Canadian Mental Health Association and other organizations.

"And families refer families," McArthur said.

Mental illness impacts everyone, she said. One in five people live with a mental illness.

For more information on the Families and Friends Education Group, call 523-4988.