Peer-to-Peer: NAMI's Recovery Curriculum
Peer-to-Peer is a unique, experiential learning program for people with any serious mental illness who are interested in establishing and maintaining their wellness and recovery. 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.  

 If you or someone you know is interested in becoming a mentor or taking the Peer-to-Peer Recovery Course please call Debbie at 1-866-399-6264. 

Topics include:

·Peer-to-Peer consists of nine two-hour units and is taught by teams of three peer teachers, or 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. Mentors must be able to read aloud, may enjoy performing and should be “team players”. They can have any diagnosis, consider themselves to be in any “stage” of recovery, be of any age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or have any type of disability. They will need stamina: to undergo the training; to carry out a nine week commitment; and to see to all of the details that teaching the course requires. Mentors will get support from NAMI Bucks County and from each other. Mentors, in addition to presenting the material of the course according to their training, are also responsible for obtaining class supplies. Mentors are paid $500.00 at the end of each nine week cycle of the Course for their work. Additionally, mentors may have special circumstances. Due to the fact that many people rely on entitlements for income, mentors may need to be paid creatively. Payment for teaching the Course may need to be divided into smaller amounts and spread out over time, in order to protect mentors’ benefits.

Peer-to-Peer 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; and survival skills for working with providers and the general public. Each class contains a combination of lecture and interactive exercise material and closes with Mindfulness Practice (techniques offered to develop and expand awareness). Each class builds on the one before: attendance each week, therefore, is required.

If you are interested in taking the Peer-to-Peer Recovery Course, please call Debbie Moritz at 1-866-399-6264 to register. or e-mail info@namibucks.org
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My Experience with NAMI's Peer-to-Peer Recovery Education Course 
by Donna R.
I have been in recovery for the last 4 years, living well with my illness, and accepting the limitations of Bi-polar Disorder. I had discovered ways to cope and encourage my family to help with the accommodations I required: i.e. quiet time; reduced stress; etc.
When I began my relapse prevention plan during Peer-to-Peer, I didn't believe that I could benefit from this exercise. However, as I started to think back to events leading up to my last relapse, I found that I wasn't accepting responsibility for my own care. I realized that I needed to be more vigilant watching for signs of relapse. Only I can control the amount of rest and exercise that I get. I'm the only one who knows if I get dressed or leave the house during the week.
I have learned to make time for going out, even if I have to go out alone. I can go to the grocery store and not let everyone else do it for me. I have learned to call a friend to go for a walk. My family can't always be there to entertain me. I found that internet communications are no substitute for human voices. I have learned that only I can make me happy and sometimes happy is what I already am.

What Recovery Means to Us

by Shery Mead MSW and Mary Ellen Copeland MS, MA
Copyright: Plenum Publishers, New York, NY, 2000

What are the key facets of a recovery scenario?
1. There is hope. A vision of hope that includes no limits.
2. It’s up to each individual to take responsibility for their own wellness. There is no one else who can do this for us.
3. Education is a process that must accompany us on this journey. We search for sources of information that will help us to figure out what will work for us.
4. Each of us must advocate for ourselves to get what it is we want, need and deserve.
5. Mutual relationship and support is a necessary component of the journey to wellness