Press Release
June 11, 2007
Contact: Kaylyn Kendall Dines
Phone: (973) 972-3000
UMDNJ Sponsors Free Six-Week Summer Family Psycho-education Program
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PISCATAWAY — free six-week behavioral health course is being offered at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey for individuals whose loved ones suffer from mental illness and would like a better understanding of behavioral health disease. The Summer 2007 Psycho-education Program will take place on Wednesday evenings at 7 p.m. from Wednesday, June 13, through Wednesday, July 18, at the UMDNJ-University Behavioral HealthCare, 671 Hoes Lane, Room D201, in Piscataway.
Intensive Family Support Services of Middlesex County, a program that is located at the UMDNJ-University Behavioral HealthCare, is sponsoring this workshop for family members. IFSS is a grant-funded program that provides free family consultations, support, education, linkages to treatment, and advocacy for family members dealing with a mental illness.
“Ultimately, the purpose of the Family Psycho-education Program is to empower families and optimize recovery for people who have a mental illness,” said Rose Zayco, family counselor at Intensive Family Support Services at the UMDNJ-UBHC. “At Intensive Family Support Services we want to improve treatment outcomes by educating and informing Middlesex County families about the nature of the mental illnesses, the treatments options, and community resources.”
Each interactive session will include a presentation and question and answer session. The weekly topics will include: Understanding Mental Illness; Treatment with Psychiatric Medication; Community Resources for People with Mental Illness and Family Members; Relapse Prevention and Improving Family Communication.
Lessons will include videos and discussions on the history of mental illness, the impact of brain biology and environmental stress on mental illness, and an overview of thought, mood, and anxiety disorders.
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) is the nation’s largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,500 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and a school of public health on five campuses. Annually, there are more than two million patient visits at UMDNJ facilities and faculty practices at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a statewide mental health and addiction services network.
