Peer-to-Peer classes give support to individuals with a mental health diagnosis.
NAMI Connection for persons with mental illness. (18 and up).
The support groups are Peer-led by individuals living well with their diagnosis.
Every MONDAY and THURSDAY 7:00p – 8:30pm. Zoom In!
To Join the Zoom Meeting please email the office at nami@namisanmateo.org or call (650) 638-0800. Thank you.
NAMI Connection for Peers 18 & Over. In Person! 2nd & 4th Wed of each month. 5p-6:30p. BurlPres Church. 1500 Easton Drive, Burlingame, CA 94010. Office door via Parking Lot. Walk Ins Welcome!
NAMI Connection Older Adults 55+
1st Wednesday of the Month
7p-8:30pm
The group will be dealing with issues relating to parenting and grand-parenting, adjusting to retired life, volunteering opportunities for Seniors during and after COVID, and independent senior living while dealing with depression, anxiety and loneliness.
Please email the office nami@namisanmateo.org if you would like to receive Zoom information for this group.
Other Support Groups
Bay Area Hearing Voices Network (BAHVN) offers a variety of on-line support groups. For more information please visit www.bayareahearingvoices.org. Flyer
Heart and Soul/The Source: 1633 Old Bayshore Hwy, Suite 258, Burlingame. Call 650-232-7426, or www.heartandsoulinc.org
North Peninsula OCD Support Groups for individuals with OCD, family members and friends, information: 415-273-7273 or info@ocdbayarea.org or visit www.ocdsfbayarea.org. 3RD SATURDAY, 1:30-3:30pm, Seton Medical Center, 1900 Sullivan Ave., 2nd Fl. Cafeteria room, Daly City.
Body Image & Eating Disorders. Thursdays 6:30-8pm. 1225 Crane St, Suite 205, Menlo Park. Open to family and friends. RSVP required! emlycaruthersmft@gmail.com. More info: 408 356 1212 or email: info@edresv.org
Coastside Dual Diagnosis Group, development for clients in all stages of recovery. THURSDAYS, 4-5pm. 225 S. Cabrillo Hwy #200A, Half Moon Bay. 726-6369 for information.
Cluttering & Hoarding Support Groups, workshops and Private Consultations. Contact Emily Farber, MSW, 650 289 5417. efarber@avenidas.org.
DBSA Mood Disorder Support Group for persons with uni- and bi-polar, depression, or anxiety. TUESDAYS, 7-9pm College Heights Church, San Mateo 1150 W. Hillsdale Blvd. Families welcome. Fred Wright, 299-8880. DBSAPaloAlto@gmail.com. Supporters may attend with their consumer.
VA Hospital, 3801 Miranda Ave, Hospital Building 101, Room A2-200, Palo Alto. TUESDAYS, 7-9pm
H.E.L.P. for those coping with a mental illness and/or those in a supporting role, Menlo Park Pres., 950 Santa Cruz Ave. THURSDAYS, 6:00pm optional dinner; 6:30-7:30 program, 7:30-8:30 prayer. Garden Court. Contact Jane at 650-464-9033.
Japanese Education & Support Group, call (415) 474-7310 for information.
Jewish Support Group, for those with mental illness and families and friends, Beit Kehillah, 26790 Arastradero Rd., Los Altos 2ND WEDNESDAYS, 6:15-8:30pm. For info, contact Carol Irwin (408)858-1372. People of all faiths are welcome.
Telecare, for family and friends of residents. 855 Veterans Blvd, Redwood City, 817-9070. 2ND WEDNESDAYS, 5:30-7pm.
SSI and SSDI Help! SSI: Every 1st Thursday of the month. 9am-9:45am. SSDI: Every 1st Thursday of the month. 9:45-10:30am. Vocational Rehabilitation Services (VRS), 550 Quarry Road, San Carlos Fall Room. http://www.smc-connect.org/locations/san-mateo-county-human-services-agency/vocational-rehabilitation-services-vrs-workcenter
What is the NAMI Peer-to-Peer Program?
Peer-to-Peer is a unique, experiential learning program for people with any serious mental illness who are interested in establishing and maintaining their wellness and recovery.
The course was written by Kathryn Cohan McNulty, a person with a psychiatric disability who is also a former provider and manager in the mental health field and a longtime mutual support group member and facilitator.
An advisory board comprised of NAMI consumer members, in consultation with Joyce Burland, Ph.D., author of the successful NAMI Family-to-Family Education program, helped guide the curriculum’s development.
Since 2005, the NAMI Peer-to-Peer Recovery Program has been supported by AstraZeneca.
NAMI SMC offers Peer to Peer classes 3 – 4 times a year. Click here to see the flyer.
NAMI Peer-to-Peer helps you:
- Create a personalized relapse prevention plan
- Learn how to interact with health care providers
- Develop confidence for making decisions and reducing stress
- Stay up-to-date on mental health research
- Understand the impact of symptoms on your life
- Access practical resources on how to maintain your journey toward recovery
Become a Peer to Peer co-teacher/Mentor:
Peer to Peer co-teachers/mentors are trained in an intensive three day training session and are supplied with teaching manuals. Participants come away from the course with a binder of hand-out materials, as well as many other tangible resources: an advance directive; a “relapse prevention plan” to help identify tell-tale feelings, thoughts, behavior, or events that may warn of impending relapse and to organize for intervention; mindfulness exercises to help focus and calm thinking; and survival skills for working with providers and the general public. All prospective co-teachers/Mentors are asked to take the class, and are recommended by their co-teacher.
This program, developed by NAMI Santa Clara County, matches PALS, or mentors, with individuals who can use the support of someone who has “been there.” Because PALS share the experience of mental illness in common with their peers, they are in a unique position to relate with and understand their peer’s experience.
PALS help individuals who are isolated with little or no contact with persons outside their home and help empower them to develop the tools, strategies and techniques to aid their recovery. To be considered for a Peer Pal position please email: tpon@namisanmateo.org.
Download a Peer Application!
Download a Pal Application!
Once matched, Peer PALS will connect by phone, in person and/or virtually up to 4 hours a week. Additionally, PALS receive ongoing training and support from a licensed and practicing counselor who serves as an advisor. Matches last for up to 6 months, and PALS are paid for their part-time work.
Peers are individuals who have been diagnosed with a mental health condition or someone who is in the process of seeking mental health support. A peer must be currently receiving treatments from their mental health professionals or is open to receiving treatments. Peers must be 18 years of age or older to apply for this free program.
NAMI SCC’s Peer PALS program was featured in a five minute segment on Channel 2 News. https://youtu.be/VWC5GYT3KTM and in San Jose Mercury News Wish Book.
For more information about NAMI Peer PALS call NAMI San Mateo County, 650-638-0800 or contact us by email at tpon@namisanmateo.org.
We can’t wait to support more Peers on their journey to wellness and recovery!
NAMI SMC also offers In Our Own Voice Presentations. To schedule a presentation, please click on the button below.
What is IOOV?
The In Our Own Voice program and its impact on participant’s lives… in their own voice.
In Our Own Voice (IOOV) is a unique public education program developed by NAMI, in which two trained individual speakers share compelling personal stories about living with mental illness and achieving recovery.
The program was started with a grant from Eli Lily and Company.
IOOV is an opportunity for those who have struggled with mental illness to gain confidence and to share their individual experiences of recovery and transformation.
Throughout the IOOV presentation, audience members are encouraged to offer feedback and ask questions. Audience participation is an important aspect of IOOV because the more audience members become involved, the closer they come to understanding what it is like to live with a mental illness and stay in recovery.
IOOV presentations are given to hospital psychiatric in-patient units, business and consumer groups, students, law enforcement officials, educators, providers, faith community members, politicians, professionals, inmates, and interested civic groups.
All presentations are offered free of charge and upon request.
The goals of IOOV are to meet the need for consumer- run initiatives, to set a standard for quality education about mental illness from those who have been there, to offer genuine work opportunities, to encourage self-confidence and self-esteem in presenters, and to focus on recovery and the message of hope.
Anyone familiar with mental illness knows that recovery is not a singular event, but a multi-dimensional, multi-linear journey characterized more by the mindset of the one taking it than by his or her condition at any given moment along the way.
Understanding recovery as having several dimensions makes its uneven course easier to accept. Much as we don’t blame the cancer patient for dying of invasive tumors, we can’t condemn a consumer whose symptoms overtake his or her best efforts to manage illness.
Recovery is the point in someone’s illness in which the illness is no longer the first and foremost part of his or her life, no longer the essence of all his or her existence.
Ultimately, recovery is about attitude and making the effort.
For more information on NAMI In Our Own Voice Presentations please visit: IOOV