Family Mental Health Initiative

• Set aside personal time for yourself. 
• Do not take your family member’s/friend’s illness personally. The symptoms and behaviours are beyond their control and yours. 
• Protect yourself from burnout. Practice stress management. Build a strong network for yourself. 
• Put humour, physical activity, and fun in your life. Stay balanced. 
• Educate yourself about mental illness, mental health and the mental health system; learn how to use it effectively. 
• Reach out to others. Don’t isolate yourself because of stigma. Share your story. Help others, especially at the beginning of their experience, with information on how to cope. This helps to give you strength, hope, and support to carry on. 
• Seek out other family members and learn from them how to cope.
• Learn effective coping techniques and crisis management at our workshops and conference. 
• Talk about your experiences with others who will understand. 
• Know that healing and recovery is a process; recovery happens one small step at a time. 
• Give time and space for recovery to happen. It cannot be done according to a schedule. 

Simcoe County Family Members & Friends List Their Coping Strategies

*compiled from the “Families Talking, Learning and Supporting” Conference 2007

• Quiet time: sitting outside, thinking 
• Reading 
• Painting 
• Prayer 
• Staying Away 
• Family Support Groups 
• Hobby 
• Learning not to be consumed by relatives’ illness 
• Setting healthy boundaries and limitations 
• Engaging in activities away from the mental illness topic 
• Exercise 
• Developing a coping plan 
• Acknowledge feelings (i.e: anger, and that it is okay to feel these emotions)