What is NAMI Education Series?
NAMI Education Series is a program designed to better inform those who have or know someone affected by mental illness. How do we do that? By hosting and offering several presentations to our community!
Why You Should Attend:
The road to recovery can sometimes be a scary one with many unknown or confusing factors. Our goal is to provide information that makes this path easier to navigate.
Seeking Volunteers: BGSU Occupational Therapy Educational Opportunity
Occupational therapy (OT) is a healthcare profession focused on the everyday activities that individuals find meaningful and how engagement in those activities can support healing and overall well-being. In mental health settings, OT practitioners work with individuals and families to explore how mental health conditions impact participation in daily routines, relationships, work, and community life.
We are hosting a one-time group participation event led by occupational therapy professionals and students. Participants will have the opportunity to help OT students learn about their experiences, needs, and preferences for health care. You can also learn more about the role of OT in mental health, explore how services can be accessed, and engage in a therapeutic group experience designed to support meaningful daily participation.
NAMI Education Series is a program designed to better inform those who have or know someone affected by mental illness. How do we do that? By hosting and offering several presentations to our community! Looking for something specific? Let us know!
Previous Topics Include:
- Motivational Interviewing: Basics and Advanced
- Holiday Blues
- Stress Management
- De-Escalation
- Trauma and Resilience
- Crisis Warning Signs
QPR stands for Question, Persuade, and Refer — the 3 simple steps anyone can learn to help save a life from suicide.
Just as people trained in CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver help save thousands of lives each year, people trained in QPR learn how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help. Each year thousands of Americans, like you, are saying "Yes" to saving the life of a friend, colleague, sibling, or neighbor.
QPR can be learned in our Gatekeeper course in as little as one hour.
Gatekeepers can be anyone, but include parents, friends, neighbors, teachers, ministers, doctors, nurses, office supervisors, squad leaders, foremen, police officers, advisors, caseworkers, firefighters, and many others who are strategically positioned to recognize and refer someone at risk of suicide.
Ending the Silence is a free, evidence-based, 50-minute session designed for middle and high school students. Your students will learn about mental health conditions through a brief presentation, short videos, and personal testimony from a young adult who describes their journey to recovery.
NAMI Ending the Silence presentations include two leaders: one who shares an informative presentation and a young adult with a mental health condition who shares their journey of recovery. Audience members can ask questions and gain understanding of an often-misunderstood topic. Through dialogue, we can help grow the movement to end stigma.
- NAMI Ending the Silence for School Staff (in person only): 1-hour presentation for school staff members that includes information about warning signs, facts and statistics, how to approach students and how to work with families
- NAMI Ending the Silence for Families (in person only): 1-hour presentation for adults with middle or high school aged youth that includes warning signs, facts and statistics, how to talk with your child and how to work with school staff
NAMI Family & Friends is a free two-hour seminar that informs people who have loved ones with a mental health condition how to best support them. It’s also an opportunity to meet other people in similar situations and gain community support. The seminar is led by trained people with lived experience of supporting a family member with a mental health condition. They will walk you through the following topics.
- Understanding diagnoses, treatment, and recovery
- Effective communication strategies
- The importance of self-care
- Crisis preparation strategies
- NAMI and community resources
Next presentation:
Thursday, May 14, 2026
6:00 - 8:00pm
Virtual on Zoom
NAMI FaithNet is a network of NAMI members and friends dedicated to promoting caring faith communities and promoting the role of faith in recovery for individuals and families affected by mental illness. 60% of people in emotional distress turn first to their clergy for help and counseling, yet many clergy feel ill-equipped to provide appropriate support and referrals to persons living with mental illness. Education about mental illness is the key to replacing ignorance and fear with compassion and understanding. Through education, congregations can offer caring, understanding and support that promote healing and recovery.
NAMI Resources for Faith Communities
- The "Bridges of Hope" presentation to the Faith Community by NAMI members
- Resources for Clergy and other faith leaders
- Additional resources for individuals affected by mental illness
NAMI In Our Own Voice presentations change attitudes, assumptions and ideas about people with mental health conditions. These free, 40-, 60- or 90-minute presentations provide a personal perspective of mental health conditions, as leaders with lived experience talk openly about what it’s like to have a mental health condition.
This presentation provides:
- An opportunity to hear open and honest perspectives on a highly misunderstood topic
- A chance to ask leaders questions, allowing for a deeper understanding of mental health conditions and dispelling of stereotypes and misconceptions
- The understanding that people with mental health conditions have lives enriched by hopes, dreams and goals
- Information on how to learn more about mental health and get involved with the mental health community
NAMI Smarts for Advocacy is a skill-building training that helps people affected by mental health conditions turn their passion and lived experience into skillful grassroots advocacy.Whether someone is new to advocacy or has years of experience, people will leave the workshop with messages, step-by-step tools and the practice they need to feel ready to make a difference.
NAMI Smarts for Advocacy begins with its core skill: Telling Your Story. This module guides participants through writing and delivering a compelling version of their story that will serve as the starting point for their issue advocacy.
Once advocates have their story, it’s time to use it. NAMI Smarts for Advocacy includes several different modules:
- Policymaking 101
- Contacting Your Policymaker
- Meeting with Your Policymaker
- Medication: Protecting Choice
- Parity: Fairness in Health Coverage
- Budgets: Funding our Future
- Reimagining Crisis Response
- Advocacy Day
Past NAMI Education Series Webinars
NAMI Wood County offers pre-recorded webinars on various mental health topics. To request the link for the webinar, click on the yellow link titled "Webinar Request Form" below each description.
- Adult Protective Services
- Avenues for Autism
- Connecting a Loved One to Services
- Coping with Grief During the Holidays
- Financial Wellness
- Finding a Provider
- Guardianship
- Mental Wellness During the Holidays
- Planning for the Future
- Rural Resilience
- Spectrum Mental Health Care
- Substance Use Disorders
- Understanding Alzheimer's and Dementia
- You Are Not Alone
Jen Emahiser, MSW, LISW-S and Leannne Eby discuss how to connect a loved one to mental health services. Specifically, they provide information about how to approach a loved one, how to respond if a loved one is resistant to getting services, as well as various resources in the community.