PORT TOWNSEND — A free 12-week course designed specifically for family members and partners of adults diagnosed with serious mental illness will be offered on successive Saturdays beginning Feb. 19.
The course, which is in its fifth year in Jefferson County, is offered by the National Alliance on Mental Illness — or NAMI — and is limited to 20 participants.
“Mental illness is a common disease of the brain that affects one in every 10 people,” said Judy Tough, who has acted as a class facilitator in the past but will not do so this year.
“With the appropriate medical care, they can become very successful, contributing members of society.”
The obstacle to treatment and care, Tough said, is that many sufferers do not acknowledge their illness and will not submit to care.
Tough said violence is present in the same percentage of mentally ill people as in the general population — which is to say, most mentally ill people do not have violent tendencies.
When mentally ill people commit violent crimes, Tough said, she feels the most empathy for the perpetrator’s parents and family.
“I feel for the parents because they have certainly tried to help their children who are mentally ill,” she said.
“But when the children are adults, you cannot force them to accept treatment or take their medication.”
Along these lines, the course offered by NAMI is not intended for juveniles.
Instructors are screening people for admission into the course and will meet individually with each interested person to determine eligibility.
The classes are open to the families and partners of those who are ill, not the patients themselves, and a formal diagnosis of mental illness is not a prerequisite for participation, said facilitator Barbara Walker.
Interviews will be scheduled, and once someone is admitted into the program, they will be told of its location, which will not be disclosed to the public.
“We can’t have people just showing up because we need to establish a screening process,” Walker said.
Each participant will receive several hundred pages of course materials “because there is a lot of material they will need to refer to in the future,” Walker said.
The topics covered in the class include major depression, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, borderline personality disorder, panic disorder, OCD, co-occurring brain disorder and addictive disorders.
“We used to think that schizophrenia was a result of actions by mothers, and a lot of the medication used for treatment made people catatonic,” Tough said.
“But we’ve learned a lot about the cause and treatment of mental illness in recent years, and the available medication is effective and allows people to function.”
Those interested in participating can phone 360-385-1503 or 360-379-9949 for an appointment.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.