NAMI Southwest CT will host an online training workshop that teaches you how to create alliances with people struggling with serious mental illness that lead to treatment and recovery.

The workshop will train participants in LEAP (Listen-Empathize-Agree-Partner) an evidence-based program based on the book I Am Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help!

The interactive training will take place from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Saturday, May 15, 2021 and is designed for family caregivers as well as mental healthcare professionals and peer-support specialists.

The workshop is hosted by the Southwest CT affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and is free and open to the public. To register for the online course, sign up here.

Participants will learn to:

• Understand the difference between anosognosia — a debilitating symptom that occurs in 50% of individuals with serious mental illness — and “denial” of mental illness.
• Use evidence-based approaches, set aside psychoeducation and logical arguments, and instead focus entirely on developing a relationship with the mentally ill person so s/he feels respected, not judged and trusts the other person’s opinion that treatment would be beneficial to reaching personal goals.
• Name the most effective forms of frontline treatments and pharmacotherapy on improving insight for person with anosognosia.
• Preserve and build on relationships when disrupted by disagreements, paranoia, involuntary treatment, etc.
• Reduce anger, paranoia, and quickly gain cooperation and compliance.
• Collaborate with the mentally ill person to work towards common goals.
• Identify the “Top Two Predictors” of treatment adherence.

More About LEAP

LEAP (Listen-Empathize-Agree-Partner) is an evidence-based program that teaches you how to create alliances with people struggling with serious mental illness that lead to treatment and recovery.

The program was developed by renowned clinical psychologist, forensic expert and founder of the internationally acclaimed LEAP Institute, Xavier Amador Ph.D. Dr. Amador is also the author of the acclaimed book, I Am Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help!

He developed the LEAP program to teach families, health professionals and first-responders how to better help people with mental illness.

The LEAP Foundation for Research to Practice (LFRP) recently changed its name to the Henry Amador Center on Anosognosia (HACA) and will continue to operate as a nonprofit 501(c)3.

About NAMI Southwest CT

NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the nation’s largest grassroots, nonprofit organization aimed at improving quality of life for people living with mental health conditions and their families.

NAMI Southwest CT, an affiliate of NAMI, serves lower Fairfield County, CT. For more information, please visit https://www.namisouthwestct.org.