Across the country, thousands of trained NAMI volunteers bring peer-led programs to a wide variety of community settings, from churches to schools to NAMI Affiliates. With the unique understanding of people with lived experience, these programs and support groups provide outstanding free education, skills training and support.
Education Classes
NAMI Basics
NAMI Basics is a class for parents, guardians and other family caregivers who provide care for youth (age 22 or younger) who are experiencing mental health symptoms.
NAMI Family-To-Family
NAMI Family-to-Family is a class for families, significant others and friends of people with mental health conditions. The course is designed to facilitate a better understanding of mental health conditions, increase coping skills and empower participants to become advocates for their family members. This program was designated as an evidence-based program by SAMHSA. The course is also available in Spanish, De Familia a Familia de NAMI.
Outreach Programs
Community Webinars
Professionals from the Cook County northern suburbs bring their expertise to speak on topics based on mental health community needs expresses through requests to NAMI CCNS staff and our resource line. Most webinars are held once a month and pre-registration is required.
NAMI In Our Own Voice
NAMI In Our Own Voice presentations change attitudes, assumptions and ideas about people with mental health conditions. These free, 40-, 60-, or 90-minute presentation provide a personal perspective on mental health conditions, as leaders with lived experience talk openly about what it’s like to have a mental health condition.
NAMI Ending The Silence
NAMI Ending the Silence is a 50-minute evidence-based presentation where high school students learn how to support and educate others on reducing mental health stigma and have the opportunity to hear the personal story of an individual aged 18 to 25 who lives with a mental health condition. This presentation aligns with SEL Illinois Common Core Standards.
Mental Health Self-Care Kits
Learn to use your five senses to help self soothe and know when to seek help with trusted adults and peers. This lecture gives you a starter kit and information to the basics of mental health.
Mental Health 101
What is Mental Health? How do we know if we have it? And how do we know if we are losing our health? Join NAMI CCNS in a conversation about the basics of mental wellness and what being unwell might look like. We will share data on different conditions and their prevalence and discuss warning signs and symptoms. This interactive conversation is for anyone interested in learning and sharing.
How to Survive Life After High School
Graduating high school can bring with it feelings of excitement, nervousness, anticipation, ambition, stress, and more. We will provide you with tips and tricks to ensure your mental wellness is a top priority. You will learn tools on how to take care of yourself and others during your first year after high school. Join us for a peek into the “adulting” world to better prepare your mind, body and spirit for this exciting new stage of your life. Hear stories from young adults who will share with you where their journeys began and where they are now in their mid-20s.
Youth Mental Health First Aid
Youth Mental Health First Aid is designed to teach parents, family members, caregivers, teachers, school staff, peers, neighbors, health and human services workers, and other caring citizens how to help an adolescent (age 12-18) who are experiencing a mental health challenge, addiction, or who may be in crisis. Youth Mental Health First Aid is primarily designed for adults who regularly interact with young people. The course introduces common mental health challenges for youth, reviews typical adolescent development, and teaches a 5-step action plan for how to help young
people in both crisis and non-crisis situations. Topics covered include anxiety, depression, substance use, disorders in which psychosis may occur, disruptive behavior disorders (including AD/HD), and eating disorders. NAMI CCNS staffers are certified to teach this course through funding by the Josselyn Center.
Teen Mental Health First Aid
Build a powerful community of teens ages 15-18 by teaching them how to support a friend or classmate with the evidence-based Teen Mental Health First Aid (TMHFA) course. Adolescence is a time of critical change and development. It’s when mental health challenges may first emerge and may be the cause for falling grades, problems with close relationships and substance use. Young people will be prepared to provide support for their peers as well as better cope with mental health challenges themselves.
Support Groups
Connections Recovery
Knowing that others have similar experience is a relief to individuals who seldom get to speak without fear of shame or stigma. You can share your stories and ask questions with others who have so much in common with yourself. Our support group is led by peer facilitators with their own mental health experiences. Groups meet online via zoom, Mondays and Saturday at 4:00 pm.
Balance for Success
This support group is designed to balance recovery from a mental illness with life at college or work. Focus is on the challenges that come with balancing the everyday pressures of work or student life and living with a diagnosed mental illness. Our support group is led by peer facilitators with their own mental health experiences. Groups meet online via zoom, Tuesdays at 7:00 pm.
NAMI Family Support Group
It gives family members of those who have a loved one with a mental health condition the opportunity to share challenges you are facing and to learn how others have dealt with these challenges. You can share your concerns and ask questions about health care, housing, medications, government programs, therapists, and anything else troubling you. Our support group is led by peer facilitators with their own mental health experiences. Groups meet online via zoom, Mondays at 7:00 pm, 1st & 3rd Tuesdays at 6:00 pm, 2nd & 4th Tuesdays at 7:00 pm and Saturdays at 9:00 am.
Grief and Loss
This group provides a space for participants to find healthy ways of remembering and honoring someone they care about. When you join, you will find a community of others who understand your pain, and like you, are learning to let go of blame and regrets and becoming whole again. This is a place where you will always be comforted by their memory. Facilitators have lived experience with loss. Group meets online via zoom, Saturday mornings at 10:00 am.
Pride Connections
This group is a collaboration of NAMI CCNS and Turning Point Behavioral Health Care Center. We welcome all identities! It is free of charge for adults in the LGBTQ+ community and is led by a female identifying Turning Point Counselor and a male identifying NAMI CCNS trained facilitator. This group will meet in-person on Wednesdays beginning on March 20, 2024 and ending May 22, 2024. Registration is required and space is limited. All participants must pre-register. This group is generously funded by the Skokie Community Foundation. Turning Point is located at 8324 Skokie Blvd. Skokie, IL 60077. All participants will check-in at front desk for day of services.
Veterans
For service members dealing with mental illness or mental health issues and Star Families. Share problems you are facing and learn how others have dealt with the same issues. You can talk with no fear of stigma or shame. Please call the number below before attending the meeting. Dr. Phil Metres is the facilitator of this group and must speak with participants before their arrival to the group. Phone Number to reach out for facilitator: 847-498-3623 Group meets every other Tuesday at 6:30 pm. To find out the current schedule you must call Dr. Metres. The groups meets at 175 Olde Half Rd, Ste. 205 Lincolnshire, IL 60069.
