BRUNSWICK — NAMI Bath-Brunswick with NAMI Maine (the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Maine) will sponsor a free Family-to- Family Education Program specifically for families of people diagnosed with mental illness.

The 12-week series of classes will be offered in Brunswick beginning on Wednesday, April 29, from 6:30- 9 p.m. Pre-registration is required.

The course is designed specifically for parents, siblings, spouses, teenage and adult children and significant others of persons with severe and persistent mental illness. The course is an evaluated best practice program and will cover information about schizophrenia, the mood disorders (bipolar disorder and major depression), panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and other major mental illnesses. In addition, coping skills such as handling crisis and relapse; basic information about medications; listening and communication techniques; problem-solving skills; recovery and rehabilitation; and self-care around worry and stress will be included.

The curriculum has been written by an experienced family member mental health professional, and the course will be taught by NAMI family member volunteers who have taken intensive training as course instructors. The coteachers are from the Bath- Brunswick area.

For more information or to enroll in the course, call Tilly at (207) 729-8055 or Debbie at (207) 319-6697.