Supportive Family Training aims

• To work with carers in understanding the recovery process and their role in supporting the service user.
• To introduce/re-introduce the development of coping skills to ensure a balance between caring responsibilities and a life outside.
• To improve information available to families and carers of people with mental health problems.
• To encourage carers to consider their own well-being (physical, spiritual and mental) through discussion, reflection and time in order to consider available options.
• To encourage carers to engage with each other for mutual support and learning and to widen their support network.
• To liaise closely with Barnet Carers to ensure that follow up support is available.

Supportive Family Training

Supportive Family Training is a comprehensive course delivered in two hour weekly sessions over eleven weeks. The training takes places on Tuesday evenings from 7.30 – 9.30 at Avenue House in Finchley. The next course starts on Tuesday 13th March 2012. Please Contact Us if you would like to attend.

The course is regularly adapted and refined based on feedback from carers and is continually evolving to take into account changes in mental health policy and practice and approaches to recovery.

Sessions will cover:

• Understanding mental health and the individual recovery journey of each service user(including sessions with service users and mental health professionals)
• Practical sessions on communication skills and problem solving strategies enabling carers to better communicate with the service user and mental health professionals
• Practical sessions on developing a self care plan and strategies for dealing with a crisis
• Throughout the course we aim to enable carers to develop sharing and support skills to use on the course and thereafter
• Ensuring carers are informed about other sources of support (emotional and financial) for both themselves and the service user

The course balances support and counselling with education and empowerment. The class teachers function as enablers and educators. Although this programme is primarily focussed on supporting the needs of families caring for a person with mental ill health, it is also firmly committed to helping the service user. The Supportive Family Training course focusses on the importance of self-care, and acknowledging one's own needs and limits. We understand the conflict you may feel between taking care of your own life and your own worry about your ill relative.