Become a Peer Support Specialist
August 14, 2018A free Peer Support Specialist Certification training program, developed for peers in Sonoma County, begins September 11, 2018.
Peer support specialists are also known as mental health consumer advocates, peer providers, peer counselors, peer mentors, peer navigators and peer advocates. Students who register for the program must be or become members of the Wellness and Advocacy Center. Applicants are sought with an interest in mental health recovery, a commitment to the Read More
Here’s how to verify that a mental health professional’s license is in good standing
California’s Department of Consumer Affairs licenses many types of mental health care professionals, including physicians, psychologists, therapists and social workers. Using the Department’s BreEZe Online Services, consumers can verify that a mental health professional’s license is in good standing, as well as review any possible disciplinary actions that a professional may have had filed against him or her in the past.
Read MoreNAMI Family Support Group: Now available on Saturdays!
We’ve added a second NAMI Family Support Group. Feel free to attend at the time convenient for you. These are free, drop-in and confidential groups that do not require pre-registration. Just come! Both meetings are held in our office at 182 Farmers Lane, Suite 202, Santa Rosa. These are structured sessions, led by trained facilitators with lived experience. Group 1: Meets weekly, every Thursday, 2 to 3:30 pm Group 2: Meets monthly, Read More
NAMI Benefit Concert Tonight, July 13, 2018!
With appreciation for the North Bay Pyrate Punks, tonight’s five-band concert at the Arlene Francis Center will benefit NAMI Sonoma County programs. Featured bands include: The Motovators, Deseos Primitivos, The Quitters, Sabaxtaros and Moonsick. All ages are welcome. $5-10 admission.
North Bay Pyrate Punks Friday July 13 at 8pm Arlene Francis Center 99 6th Street Santa Rosa
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Meet our new Family-to-Family Teachers
Thanks to Whitney Rodgers, our Family Support Manager, we have three newly trained Family-to-Family teachers at NAMI Sonoma County. This free 12-week course for family caregivers of adults living with mental illness provides communication and problem-solving techniques, coping mechanisms and self-care skills that helps families to deal with the impact of mental illness on the family.
Jose, Mary-Frances, Whitney & April
Read MoreTalk to someone. You’re not alone.
No One Helped My Mentally Ill Mother, or Me In this NY Times article, published June 22, 2018, Laura Zera shares the experience of growing up with a mother who lived with mental illness. Having shouldered her mother’s challenges, including psychosis, she wishes that someone had talked to her about mental illness when she was in high school. NAMI Sonoma County is regularly invited to talk to high school students about mental illness. Read More