Don’t miss the inaugural IMPACT SUMMIT! Hear inspiring stories and actionable strategies for 2024 and beyond. Join NAMI Massachusetts, partners, sponsors, and change-makers as we celebrate the Impact made in 2023 and drive future progress. Secure your spot next week- limited tickets available!
At this time, we do not have any available Basics courses. You can add your name to the general registration waitlist and, once we have available Basics courses on our schedule, we will be in contact with you regarding the next steps in the registration process. Please register early, as your registration date serves as your priority date for admission to the next class.
If you have any questions, please reach out to programs@namimass.org.
3 February
19Febrero
Fecha: Lunes, Febrero 19, 2024
Hora: 6:00 – 8:30 PM
Lugar: Zoom
Contacto: 413-786-9139 o information@namiwm.org; Tamari en tamari_c@yahoo.com
26 February
Date: Monday, February 26, 2024
Time: 7:00 – 9:30 PM
Location: Zoom
Contact: Katerina Georges at katgeorges@icloud.com; Yolanta Kovalko at kovalkoyolanta9@gmail.com
Day 1: Saturday, February 17, 2024
Time: 8:30 AM – 6:00 PM
Day 2: Sunday, February 18, 2024
Time: 12:00 – 5:00 PM
Trainers: Steve Hadden and Dori Prescott
Location: NAMI Massachusetts, 331 Montvale Ave, Suite 200, Woburn, MA 01801
Contact: Ilya Cherkasov at (617) 286-7607 or icherkasov@namimass.org
NAMI Family-to-Family is a free, 8 or 9-session educational program for family, significant others and friends of people living with mental health conditions.
A NAMI Family-to-Family teacher is a trained NAMI leader who plays an important role in ensuring that all participants feel welcomed and supported. They are volunteers who become certified by completing a self-paced 2-hour pre-training online module and then attending and graduating from one-and-a half-day in-person training. Teacher trainees must go through an application and screening process before being approved to attend a training event.
Thanks to the DMH grant, NAMI Mass can now acknowledge each F2F leader’s contribution with an optional $400 stipend for each course they teach.
All meals and program supplies are provided free of charge to all trainees.
Hotel accommodation is provided for trainees from far-flung affiliates.
NAMI is proud to introduce the Teen & Young Adult (T&YA) HelpLine: A free nationwide peer-support service providing information, resource referrals, and support to teens and young adults. Our T&YA Specialists are young people who understand what you’re going through because they have been through stuff, too. They are experienced and well-trained. They care and want to help you find a way forward. Reach out by phone, text, or chat.
- Text “Friend” to 62640 to immediately connect with a HelpLine Specialist trained to provide resources, information, and support.
- Chat at nami.org/talktous to connect with a HelpLine Specialist on NAMI.org.
- If you are a teen or young adult with questions about mental health, call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) to speak with a NAMI HelpLine specialist now.
Available Monday through Friday, 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM ET
At NAMI Massachusetts, we’ve always believed in the power of collaboration and community impact. Our Small Business Ally Initiative, launched in Summer 2023, is a way for local businesses to support the mission and programming of NAMI Mass while tapping into our vast network of people and resources.
Plus, get your goodies and make an impact by shopping at one of our Founding Members of the Small Business Ally Initiative. A portion of every sale goes to NAMI Mass at these existing Small Business Allies:
Open to the public. Only members will be able to vote. Your attendance at this meeting is critical to your NAMI-WM affiliate. Absentee ballots will be mailed separately. If you do not receive a ballot by the beginning of January contact our office. Ballots must be received in our office by Friday, January 19, 2024.
We will have Bruce Bradley-Gilbert, LMHC, CADC-II, ART-BC and an additional speaker speaking on dual diagnosis, and a business meeting including the election of BOD by current members.
Guest speaker: Bruce Bradley-Gilbert, LMHC, CADC-II, ATR-BC
Date: Sunday, January 21, 2024
Time: 1:00 – 3:00 PM
Location: Online
Join NAMI Central Middlesex and Becky Barnett, the Community Relations Manager for the MA Behavioral Health Help Line. Becky will outline the program, offer usage data, listen to input, and answer all your questions about the BHHL.
We will gather online for our annual meeting on Monday, January 22nd. We’ll start off at 6:45 PM with an opportunity to chat with Central Middlesex board members. At 7:00 PM we’ll dig in to a review of our 2023 activities and achievements and thank our volunteers. Members will be asked to vote on our slate of board candidates. (Is your NAMI membership up to date?) Then we’ll welcome our speaker and any guests from the public at about 7:15 PM. Our board members will stick around after the presenter’s Q&A to speak with attendees and listen to suggestions for 2024 affiliate activities.
Guest speaker: Becky Barnett, Community Relations Manager, Behavioral Health Help Line
Date: Monday, January 22, 2024
Time: 7:15 PM
Location: Zoom
This is a rigorous training for people preparing for a Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) role in the community or service system. CPS is not an entry-level position and the training is designed for people who have some knowledge and have their own experience with mental health peer support. A CPS has been trained to share their experiences of healing with trauma, a mental health diagnosis, services, and support and to carry the message that “Healing is a Self-Determined Process.”
In sharing our wisdom, strength, and hope with others (including people using services, mental health professionals and policy makers) CPSs can significantly impact peoples’ beliefs about their own capacity to heal and the capacity of others to heal with the experiences they’ve lived through. The CPS program includes classes that covers 24+ modules, small group activities and homework. The course supports students to inspire hope in people they support and work with. After completing the class, students are eligible to take a written examination in order to become certified. Application process is open until January 19, 2024.
CPS Eligibility Requirements
- 18 years of age or older
- Live or work in Massachusetts
- High School Diploma or equivalent (GED, HiSET, etc)
- Have your own lived experience with significant life impacts like trauma, receiving a mental health diagnosis.
- Willingness to share your own mental health recovery story in the context of peer support
Class 5 (Spring): March 4, 2024 – April 4, 2024
Time: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Location: Hybrid
Contact: cps@kivacenters.org
Do you have a child with behavioral challenges? Do you have other children who are impacted? If so, caregivers and siblings are invited to join us!
Siblings meet other children and teens who know what it’s like to have a brother or sister with behavioral challenges. Siblings have a chance to talk, learn coping skills and feel better. The Zoom is facilitated by psychiatrists and trainees at UMass Chan Medical School.
Day: First Thursdays at 5:30 PM
Location: Zoom
Contact: Emily Rubin at (857) 523-1145 or emily.rubin@umassmed.edu
Communicating effectively helps us build and shape support for mental health policies and programs that work. Framing issues in ways that tap our audience’s innate optimism, empathy, and shared values helps us advocate successfully for change. But effective framing is not always intuitive, and it’s easy to inadvertently undermine advocacy goals with communications that lose sight of the big picture.
In partnership with the FrameWorks Institute, MAMH is offering a free training, tools, and resources to help you communicate more effectively to boost knowledge, shift attitudes, and build support for mental health and wellness in your community.
Communicating for Change: How to Talk About Mental Health to Build Support for What Works is a 4-hour training available free of charge to organizations and individuals working toward improved mental health policies and programs, especially at the intersection of the mental health system and the criminal legal system or mandated treatment. Advocates, policymakers, and communications staff are especially encouraged to participate.
Each training includes an overview of effective framing, strategies to improve communications, and hands-on opportunities to apply the strategies to your own work. Trainings can be provided in person or virtually.
Have you or a loved one used crisis stabilization services through community behavioral health centers (CBHCs)? Have you had a positive or negative experience? If so, Eli Cahan, a mental health reporter with ABC News and The Boston Globe, would love to discuss with you. If you are interested in speaking with him, you can reach out at emcahan@gmail.com or (650) 285-0702.
For the last several years there have been just a handful of Mental Health Specialty Courts in Massachusetts. That number is increasing to sixteen and will likely continue to grow. Learn how the process unfolds for potential participants.
The Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research in the Psychiatry Department at UMass Chan Medical School is recruiting new members for their Young Adult and Family Advisory Boards. They want to grow their advisory boards to include more members that identify as coming from marginalized and underserved communities. Join a board to ensure that your voice is heard in the work they do.