Continuing education in family support: First degrees
At the end of June 2023, 13 family members in Bern completed the first further training program in Switzerland to become a family companion. This prepares relatives of people with a mental illness to support other relatives professionally. This closes a gap in health care.
The start on May 20, 2022 was a venture, because it took a pioneering spirit for the prospective family companions to commit themselves to an intensive one-year course that involved a lot of effort and few guarantees of employment. 13 relatives of family members with a mostly severe mental illness participated in the so-called "EX-IN" course for relatives. EX-IN stands for "Experienced Involvement". A corresponding further training course for psychiatry-experienced persons affected by a mental illness already exists. Experienced persons working in psychiatry are also called "peers".
Mental illness: The hidden suffering
If mental illnesses occur in around 15-34% of the population in Switzerland, it can be assumed that very many relatives provide great services in secret, partly without being aware of it. Continuing education makes this enormous contribution visible and makes it possible to accompany and stand by other relatives in serious crises on a paid basis. Self-help groups for relatives such as the VASK (Association of Relatives of the Mentally Ill) do a lot, but this alone is not enough. In addition, years of suffering often pass before relatives learn about a self-help group like the VASK. Therefore, more support is needed on a professional basis in the institutions where people with a mental illness are treated. The new professional field of family support closes this gap.
Support for relatives as an important piece of the puzzle for modern psychiatry
All 13 graduates have achieved an enormous amount in 240 attendance hours in the course, 65 hours of internship time in psychiatric settings, with the creation of a portfolio, presentations and the final papers. Fortunately, an internship position could be found for all participants, and all participants have successfully completed the continuing education or are about to do so. "We relatives play a significant role in the recovery process of our loved ones. Our burden is immense. The fact that we, too, are finally receiving support is overdue," said one voice from the course.
Individual graduates have already found jobs, and others are in negotiation. Thanks to the opening of some psychiatric hospitals to recovery processes, the foundations have been laid for a new development in which all those involved listen to each other and together support everything that promotes recovery processes and keeps the environment healthy.
The next course is scheduled for 2024. The project is carried out in cooperation with the project promotion prevention of the health care of Health Promotion Switzerland.
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