NAMI Of Multnomah County | Programs and Classes

NAMI Multnomah provides free classes to family members of children and adults with mental illness. To learn more about our program offerings, click on the appropriate link below or call (503) 228-5692.

Family-to-Family is a twelve week course which educates families with an adult family member (spouse, parent, adult child, etc) suffering from mental illness. The class focuses on major brain disorders, family coping mechanisms, as well as advocacy and communication techniques. The courses are taught in the Portland, OR metro area by trained NAMI volunteers.

Peer-to-Peer is a nine week course on the topic of recovery for any person with a serious mental illness who is interested in establishing and maintaining wellness. This course is taught by trained "Mentors" who have personal experience with living with a mental illness.

Visions for Tomorrow course consists of a series of workshops for caregivers of children with brain disorders. It covers educational material and provides the basics for day-to-day caregiving skills.

In Our Own Voice (IOOV) is a consumer based presentation program that creates awareness about the possibility for recovery from mental illness. IOOV presentations are held for other consumers, family members, health care providers, law enforcement officials, faith community or any other community or civic organization.

FIRST STEP: Dedicated to assisting psychiatric patients achieve success in their journey of recovery.

First Step, a NAMI Multnomah Outreach Program, was started as a pilot project in April 2008. The program provides hope and recovery information to psychiatric patents for use when they leave the hospital setting... This program outlines available support resources from NAMI and shares some ideas about relapse prevention and recovery. We believe the program is successful in helping speed the patient’s transition from the hospital to the community and their recovery.

First Step meetings include the following information:

History of NAMI and its goals, current information/support available from NAMI Multnomah including:

Classes	Support Groups
Lending library	Video library
Educational Materials	Volunteer Opportunities

The presenter explains their reasons for being involved in NAMI, the benefits of membership, what NAMI does for them. Relating both personally and professionally, each presenter tells part of their story. The patent has a connection to the community; and has a supportative 1^st Step to take… a visit and the opportunity to talk with a person with mental illness. This interchange helps reduce the stigma associated with having a mental illness and provides them with a …. First step to take…

The atmosphere is relaxed and patients ask a lot of questions. They are encouraged to visit or call NAMI after their hospital stay. We have had numerous people drop by the office and several have joined support groups and have participated in volunteer work.

Programs and Classes

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