NAMI Four County and NAMI Ohio will partner to offer a free five-day, 40-hour training program next month for caregivers of adolescents with behavioral health challenges.
Successful completion of the program can lead to a paid position as a certified family peer supporter.
Family peer supporters can work as a member of mobile response stabilization services and wraparound teams as well as provide individual family peer support in hospitals, residential programs and juvenile courts.
It begins with three days of in-person training to be held March 14, 15 and 16 in Archbold. The two remaining sessions will be held on-line on March 27 and 28.
The local training will be led by Tameika Wright, NAMI Ohio’s family peer support training coordinator, and Wendy Jennings, NAMI Four County executive director and certified family peer supporter.
Registration for the training must be completed on-line no later than Monday, March 6. To apply on-line, go to: https://namiohio.org/family-peer-support/.
Interested applicants with additional questions should contact Wright by email at tameika@namiohio.org.
There are six steps to certification. Family peer supporters must: Have at least one year of experience as the caregiver of an adolescent with a behavioral health challenge; Be a high school graduate or complete a GED program; Complete the on-line training application and 40 hour NAMI training; Submit proof of training completion to the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OMHAS); Pass an FBI/BCI background check; Pass the OMHAS family peer supporter exam.
Certified family peer supporters are also known as parent support professionals, navigators, mentors, and family and parent partners.
They are trained to offer family members of adolescents with behavioral health challenges the following: Emotional connection from people who have “been there,” informational and educational support on the systems that families may need to navigate on behalf of their loved one as well as strategies to help the families through that process, assistance for families as they develop positive approaches and methods for addressing their family’s day to day needs and self-care, specific suggestions for things such as helping to arrange child care, transportation and housing, and hope as families look to the future in a realistic way.