Do you have a family member with mental health problems?
Find answers to the questions that arise and do it with the greatest naturalness, because there is nothing to hide. Look for people, other families, associations like AVIFES with whom you can talk about this type of disease, because here you will not only find information, but also support and you will feel that you are not alone.
Guilt, shame, sadness… are sometimes emotions shared between families, training and informing us will help us understand them, face them and have strategies and resources to handle them properly.
Many times we have the tendency to stigmatize mental illness, blaming ourselves and hiding it, silencing what happens to us or around us, but win this way we only make our family member feel guilty about what is happening to them when it is not their fault at all.
You are not alone
At AVIFES we want to accompany you on this path.
The first impact
On many occasions, it is the families who begin to notice that something is happening, that your family member is suffering alterations in behavior, emotions and thinking, but you do not understand why or what is happening.
NORMALLY THE PRINCIPLES, AS IN OTHER AREAS OF LIFE, ARE COMPLICATED
Going through bewilderment, not understanding, hospital admissions and comings and goings to doctors, even partial denial of the situation is normal. We see that our son or daughter, our sister or father or partner is suffering or behaving in ways that we could never have imagined and above all, we are witnesses of how their life is changing little by little. It is the same person, but at the same time it is not.
At any given moment it is not uncommon to feel anger, resentment, fear and frustration. Do not be afraid to feel, but support, understanding, reassurance, and balance are essential.
BEHIND EVERY PERSON WITH MENTAL ILLNESS THERE IS A FAMILY THAT NEEDS SUPPORT
In the face of this whirlwind, communication, access to information, being able to resolve doubts and not feeling alone are essential.
We are close to you, we want to accompany you in this situation, to give you information, guidance, emotional support and much more, that is our purpose at AVIFES. You will also meet other families who have already gone through this process who can help you as well.
How can we support and help you?
We can and will support you through the Family Support Program. We can help you deepen your knowledge of mental illness, symptoms, diagnosis, teach you new responses and strategies to improve coexistence, help you detect and verbalize your feelings and not feel alone on this path, because you are not!
And of what way do we do it?
In group and individual meeting spaces ,you will find support and information depending on the moment or situation that you are living at home in relation to your family member with mental illness.
- We offer you specialized training in the field of mental health, strategies for coexistence and guidance with the ultimate aim of contributing to the improvement of your quality of life and that of your affected family member.
- We offer you connections with other family members and someone to listen.
- We work on personal skills to improve family life.
- We inform and guide about rights and resources for you and your family member.
- If there are children in your family environment, we will also help them understand this situation.
Groups and spaces that seek to give you support and answers
Family school
Has your family member just received a diagnosis of mental illness and you don’t know how to help them? Have you been dealing with this situation alone for a long time and do you feel that you lack tools, that in many moments you do not know how to act? Would you like to be able to better understand what your daughter, brother, father or mother is experiencing and feeling?
In this School you will find answers.
Duration: 8 sessions of 2 hours duration in the afternoon.
Teaches: AVIFES Professional
Requirements: Be a relative of a person with mental health problems.
It is not necessary to be a member of AVIFES.
Price: Free
Recycling school
Do you know the symptoms of mental illness but still feel like you have a lot to learn? Do you need to have a space for you as a family member to express what you feel? Do you want to travel the road accompanied?
Come to Recycling and on a monthly basis we will respond to questions related to mental health, we will refresh knowledge and / or we will face challenges together in the face of the different life cycles that our family member lives.
Duration: Throughout the year.
Teaches: AVIFES Professional
Requirements: Be a relative of a person with mental health problems and be associated with AVIFES
** For a solution close to home, you will find us in Bilbao, Margen Izquierda and Duranguesado.
Support group for caring mothers of people with mental illness
Are you the mother of a person with mental illness and do you feel that you have left many other aspects of yourself and your life behind? Do you feel that sometimes you take care of others a lot but you do not take care of yourself or think about yourself as much as you should?
In this group we offer you a space for listening, support, exchange of experiences and enjoyment for you, as a woman, regardless of your role as a caregiver, because in order to take care of anyone, you must first take care of yourself. Take care of your family member, but don’t forget about yourself.
Duration: Throughout the year.
Teaches: AVIFES Professional
Requirements: Be the mother of a person with mental illness and be a member of AVIFES.
Group theraupeutic of parents of young people with mental illness
Adolescence and early youth are complicated stages, but when a mental health problem is also added, our work as parents becomes complicated. If this is your case, if as a father or mother you feel lost and you do not understand the reasons for your son or daughter’s behaviour , and you do not know what you can do or how to help yourself, this is your group.
In this group you will meet other parents of young people and adolescents who like you want to train, support each other and find better answers. With a therapeutic orientation, our psychologist will help you improve your relationship with your son or daughter, to acquire tools that will allow you to handle yourself in a more satisfactory way on a day-to-day basis with your son or daughter.
Duration: Throughout the year.
Teaches: AVIFES Professional
Requirements: Be the father or mother of a person with mental health problems and be associated with AVIFES
Individual Prsychoeducational Sessions
These sessions are for if you want to learn more about mental illness and also deepen your knowledge, individually or with your family, on how to approach everyday situations, equip yourself with tools to deal with attitudes or behaviors through coping techniques training. From AVIFES we offer you this space individually or for your family group.
Duration: The duration and intensity of the sessions will be assessed individually.
Lecturer: Psychologist at AVIFES
Requirements: Be a relative of a person with mental health problems and be associated or associated with AVIFES.
Plus…
- Throughout the year we organize different workshops on topics of your interest, issues that concern you as a family member.
- We have a group of offamily-led self-help.
- We also put at your disposal a psychological help service through different spaces of therapeutic intervention.
