IOOV is a new universal prevention program that provides a mental health education program developed by National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in which two trained consumer speakers share compelling personal stories about living with mental illness and achieving recovery. 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 consumer groups, students, law enforcement officials, educators, providers, faith community members, politicians, professionals, inmates and interested civic groups. The goal of IOOV is to meet the needs of consumer-run initiatives to set a standard for quality education about mental illness. The quality education comes directly from individuals who have been in the position of experiencing social stigma.
The program intends to: 1) offer genuine work opportunities that make a difference in the community, 2) encourage self- confidence, reduce self-stigma and increase self-esteem in presenters/educators, 3) carry a message of hope and focus on the message ‘Recovery is possible.’ 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 - this is the time when work on self- stigma is most powerful. The project in Stanislaus County will recruit persons in recovery from diverse cultural backgrounds to make the program linguistically appropriate and to better address the complex ideas of stigma and mental illness that exist in their communities.
For more information about IOOV or to schedule a presentation, contact the NAMI Stanislaus
NAMI Stanislaus
500 N. 9th Street, Suite D
Modesto, CA
(209) 558-4555
