Nami Southeast Louisiana

Over the last fiscal year, nami southeast louisiana held 3 separate free support groups in our community. These are nami connection, which is a recovery support group for adults living with mental health challenges, nami family support group, which is open to family members and family caregivers of individuals living with a serious mental illness, and survivors of suicide (sos) which provides family members who have lost a loved one to suicide come together for resources and support. All groups are confidential with participants sharing as much or as little at they wish. Our organization held 169 support groups last year (117 family support groups, 42 connection groups, and 10 survivors of suicide groups) with 1,000 individuals in attendance. (730 for family support group, 228 for connection, and 42 for survivors of suicide). Nami southeast louisiana also held 2 different signature education classes in the community. These include: peer-to-peer and family-to-family. Peer- to-peer is an 8-week program that meets in a safe, confidential setting where adults living with mental health challenges can learn skills to establish wellness and maintain a solid recovery. Family-to-family education, another 8-week program, was developed for family members or family caregivers who have loved ones living with mental illness. Over the last fiscal year, we provided 6 (2 peer-to-peer and 4 family- to-family) classes with a total of 76 individuals in attendance. In addition to support groups and signature education programs, nami southeast louisiana added individual sessions of signature nami programs. Nami provider, a program for healthcare providers, administrative and operational staff and medical students to help them understand the lived experience of individuals with mental illness and their families, fostering empathy, collaboration, and compassionate care, offered 2 sessions at a local hospital. Nami in our own voice, a public education program where trained speakers with liv