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Family Support Group

Family-Support-Group

The NAMI Family Support Group is a peer-led support group for family members, caregivers and loved ones of individuals living with mental illness. Participating in a support group can help you gain insight from the challenges and successes of other families facing similar circumstances.

NAMI’s Support Groups are unique because they follow a structured model, ensuring everyone has an opportunity to be heard and to get what they need. The NAMI Family Support Group is:

  • Free if cost to participants
  • Designed for adult loved ones (18+) of individuals living with mental illness
  • Led by family members of individuals living with mental illness
  • Meets weekly or monthly
  • No specific medical therapy or medication is endorsed or recommended
  • Confidential

What You’ll Gain

By sharing your experiences in a safe and confidential setting, you gain hope and develop supportive relationships. This group allows your voice to be heard, and provides an opportunity for your personal needs to be met. It encourages empathy, productive discussion, and a sense of community. You’ll benefit through other’s experiences, discover your inner strength, and learn now to identify local resources and how to use them.

NAMI Family Support Group will help you:

  • See the individual first, not the illness
  • Recognize that mental illnesses are medical illnesses that may have environmental triggers
  • Understand that mental illnesses are traumatic events
  • Aim for better coping skills
  • Find strength in sharing experiences
  • Reject stigma and not tolerate discrimination
  • Not judge anyone’s pain
  • Forgive ourselves and reject guilt
  • Embrace humor
  • Accept that we cannot solve every problem
  • Work for a better future in a realistic way

What People are Saying

“Using the [NAMI] support group model is so essential to the success of our family support groups. As a group, the collective wisdom covered a lot of possibilities.”

“The most beneficial thing for me was that I am not alone. I found the NAMI Family Support Group at the time I really needed it!”

How can I find a class in my area?

To find out where the NAMI Family Support Group programs are currently being offered in Michigan, please contact the NAMI Michigan main office in Lansing at 517-485-4049 or send an email to . You can also fill out a request to have someone from NAMI Michigan reach out to you on our Contact NAMI page. You can indicate your interest in the NAMI Family to Family Education program on the form.

You can also review a listing of all of the NAMI Michigan affiliates maintained at the national NAMI site.