NAMI In Our Own Voice: Living with Mental Illness

1. NAMIIn Our Own Voice: Living with Mental Illness Panel Discussion Participants: Carole Ballard, ADAMHSCC Ellen Riehm, NAMI of Greater Cleveland Lisa Marie Griffin, NAMI IOOV Presenter Karen Curlis, NAMI IOOV Presenter

2. In Our Own Voice: The What • IOOV was introduced in 1996 as Living with Schizophrenia and the name was later changed to In Our Own Voice. • The program is now active in 44 states and there have been over 500,000 audience members reached through this training model.

3. In Our Own Voice: CIT Introduction • Law enforcement officers are introduced to IOOV on the first day of CIT training. • Officers learn from consumers with mental illness up front about the stages of recovery. • Officers have an opportunity to interact and engage with consumers in recovery and not through a crisis.

4. In Our Own Voice • IOOV was introduced to the Crisis Intervention Team training in Cleveland in 2008. • Since that time, IOOV was presented about 24 times reaching 720 law enforcement officers.

5. In Our Own Voice: • In Our Own Voice (IOOV) is a unique education program developed by NAMI, in which two trained peer speakers share compelling personal stories about living with mental illness and achieving recovery. The presentation is divided into 5 segments • Dark Days • Acceptance • Treatment • Coping Tips • Successes, Hopes and Dreams

6. In Our Own Voice: Dark Days • Speakers explore feelings and experiences that occurred during their darkest moments of living with mental illness. • Benefit to CIT Training-police encounter the mentally ill during their dark days. This segment helps officers see the “why” of how these days came and the outcome.

7. In Our Own Voice: Acceptance • Speakers explain their personal experience of how they learned to accept the reality of having a mental illness. • Benefit to CIT Training: Officers learn that recovery is possible with acceptance.

8. In Our Own Voice: Treatment • Speakers explore what treatment milieus worked for them and why. • Benefit to CIT Training: Officers learn that treatment for mental illness involves other milieus such as counseling, etc.

9. In Our Own Voice: Coping Strategies • Speakers share their personal coping strategies and wellness. • Benefit to CIT Training: Officers learn that there are a broad variety of coping strategies other than just taking medication.

10. In Our Own Voice: Successes, Hopes and Dreams • Speakers share the outcome of setting goals while pursuing personal dreams. • Benefit to CIT Training: Officers learn that consumers have short term and long term dreams and outcomes for themselves.

11. In Our Own Voice: The Value • IOOV sets the tone for the CIT week by introducing officers to consumers as educators to the learning process. • IOOV also provides law enforcement officers with an interactive dialogue with consumers.

12. In Our Own Voice: • “The information provided was very useful. I can apply these techniques on my job as a Police Dispatcher as well as any personal contact that I may have with someone suffering from mental illness. The presenters were great! • “Good Informative Presentation, nice to have actual people speak on their experiences” • “All officers should attend” • “It showed the other side of mental illness.”

13. In Our Own Voice: Questions? Interested in bringing IOOV to your CIT training ? Go to NAMI.org to find your state NAMI office and contact them. Or email: namieducation@nami.org