Canada Post Foundation Funds Training for Strengthening Families Together Program
BCSS has received a grant from the Canada Post Foundation for $41,000 to provide training to coordinators and volunteers around the province on how to deliver family support and education through the Strengthening Families Together program and the NAMI support group training.
The final session of training was delivered in February 2010 in Prince George with great success, by BCSS’s own Kim Dixon.
BCSS provides the Strengthening Families Together (SFT) program, a 10 week support and education program for family members of persons with a mental illness, in communities throughout BC. In the last evaluation of the program, a need was identified through facilitator, coordinator and volunteer feedback for further training and coordination support to help volunteers trained as facilitators offer the program, to centralize and standardize evaluation procedures, and to increase the confidence level of staff and key volunteers delivering the program.
The project funded by the Canada Post foundation provided an existing and proven programme of training currently used in the Northern health region to BCSS staff and volunteers in other regions.
It also provided coordination to support, expand and improve delivery of the Strengthening Families Together (SFT) support and education program for families/supporters of persons with serious and persistent mental illness. The Strengthening Families Together program provides useful information and support for families supporting a loved one with a mental illness.
The Strengthening Families Together program helps family members of persons with serious and persistent mental illnesses learn the skills they need to support and advocate for their loved ones. It also provides direct peer support to family members coping with difficulties related to a the serious mental illness of a loved one. The program allows family members to learn about mental illness, become oriented to the mental health system, and to support their ill relative. It also builds local communities of support between family members caring for ill relatives, who are often isolated from community support by the stigma attached to mental illness.
