Education Sometimes what you
don't know can hurt you! And it can hurt the progress toward recovery of the
family member or friend who has a mental illness. Also, many of our problems are
associated with fear. With mental illness there is a fear associated with
the illness itself as in panic disorders. The caretakers also have a fear
associated with the unknown course that the disease will take. These fears can
have a disastrous result on all concerned. Education or knowledge has a way of
reducing fear. For most, it gives us a rational basis on which to govern our
thought processes. It would be safe to say that most of what we believe
regarding mental illness is not based on "good" science but on
"bad" information, such as stereotyping, that has been passed along
and has formed our views on what we believe about mental illness.
Until recently, good (factual) information about mental illness was difficult to
come by. Not any more!. NAMI has, through its internet site, made available
volumes of information that can be used to educate anyone who wants to know
about any facet of mental illness. This knowledge has the potential to alleviate
many of our fears. In addition to the national NAMI site, NAMI-BC has
started a library in our office which contains books, brochures, videos, etc.,
all of which attempt to provide information and knowledge that can be used. Many
of our resources are free for the taking and others can be checked out for
reading or viewing. From time to time, we will include information on the
NAMI-BC website which we think may be of help as well.
