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NMI gets a taste of illness management, recovery training
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Posted on Feb 23 2006
The CNMI community had a healthy dose on how to cope with stress and other mental health problems in a three-day workshop on Illness Management and Recovery organized by the Department of Public Health Community Guidance Center in collaboration with the Northern Marianas Protection and Advocacy Systems, Inc.
The workshop, which started Tuesday and ended yesterday, flew in a speaker and consultant from the University of Hawaii to facilitate and lead the discussion on evidence-based practices dealing with mental health issues of the community.
Assistant researcher and consultant Ronald John San Nicolas of the Hawaii Center for Evidence-Based Practice, Mental Health Services Research, Evaluation and Training at the University of Hawaii, said the workshop was the “first of its kind” in the CNMI.
San Nicolas said the workshop intended to broaden knowledge of consumers about mental illness and teach them on how to integrate again with community for those who had suffered from the illness.
In his two-year experience in giving such workshops in the Pacific, he said he was overwhelmed with the turnout. At least 30 community members attended the workshop, from consumers to providers, said San Nicolas.
NMPASI project officer Greg Borja said the workshop in summary dealt with at least 10 topics believed to be helpful in the training. Borja said these topics were: recovery strategies, practical facts about mental illness, the Stress Vulnerability Model and Treatment Strategies, building social support, using medication effectively, drug and alcohol issues, reducing relapses, coping with stress, coping with problems and symptoms, and getting to meet the needs through mental health system.
Borja said the workshop had been very helpful in giving options to community members who suffer from mental illness would be given options in acquiring mental health services
Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness and consumer Mario Lisua said the training had been very rewarding. He added that it was good to get more information and knowledge in understanding recovery from the ailment.
