How to Help Family Members or Friends with Mental Illness

Name: How to Help Family Members or Friends with Mental Illness
Rating: 4.6 (287 reviews)

Practical Counseling Skills to help children, family or friends with Depression, Anxiety, or Other Mental Illness

Highest Rated

Created byEmma McAdam

Last updated 6/2021

English

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What you'll learn

Learn how to support your loved one with mental illness in a positive and helpful way
Parenting skills for a Child with Mental Illness
Create a Healthy Relationship where you can influence them positively
Become a great listener so they'll open up to you
Know what to do if your loved one won't talk, won't get help, or is suicidal
Learn alternatives to traditional treatment so that they have multiple "tools" to help your loved one
Better understand relationship dynamics so you can improve your role in the system.
Boundaries
Self-Care
How to help them access resources
Advanced topics like suicide prevention, recognizing dysfunctional roles, managing attention seeking behaviors and self harm, and so much more

Course content

6 sections • 57 lectures • 5h 16m total length

Disclaimer1:57

Introduction3:07
Explore how to help a loved one with mental illness using two lesson types: way of being and skills interventions, to create a safe space for growth.
Mental Illness is Common and Treatable3:17
Recognize that mental illness is common and treatable, and become an influential source of support by listening, asking good questions, and navigating relationship dynamics to help a loved one.
A Systemic Approach to Treating Mental Illness7:27
How Mental Illness Affects Relationships5:34
How Relationships Affect Mental Illness8:09
What Causes Mental Illness?5:14
Understanding their Disorder8:33
Learn how mental illnesses like depression and anxiety affect brain chemistry and daily life, and discover compassionate, practical ways to understand, support, and motivate loved ones toward treatment.
Understanding Mental Illness Diagnoses6:26
This is a video from my "Change your Brain" Course on Udemy, it describes the difference between mental health diagnoses and most physical diagnoses.
Taking Care of Yourself3:35

Unconditional Positive Regard7:08
Apply unconditional positive regard to work with teens, seeing inherent goodness, resisting judgment, and fostering change through warmth, compassion, and appropriate boundaries.
The Paradox of Making them Feel Better8:20
Creating Emotional Safety6:46
If we want help others, we have to be an emotionally safe place for them. I made this video for my YouTube Channel (Therapy in a Nutshell) on Emotional Safety, and I’m going to share it here-so click on the next video to learn about how to be an emotionally safe person.
Empathic Listening-An Introduction7:58
Empathic Listening: If I could only teach one skill...it would be this one7:07
Another video from my YouTube Channel (Therapy in a Nutshell) on the skill of Listening Empathically.
Why you're trying to help...is it helpful?4:38
Loving Boundaries3:54
Set healthy boundaries to define who is responsible for whom, communicate honestly, and avoid burnout while helping loved ones with mental illness.
Boundaries Part 18:54
Learn to set and hold boundaries with a loving heart, distinguish soft resistance from hard loving, and use firm, compassionate noes to support others' growth.
Boundaries Part 24:44
Boundaries Part 36:48
Set healthy, assertive boundaries by focusing on your influence, building safety and trust, inviting cooperation, and using clear impact statements and natural consequences.
Acting on your Values, not their Outcomes4:56
Learn to prioritize your values over uncertain outcomes by aligning your actions with integrity and compassion, inviting healthier change in others through congruence and self-improvement.
Enmeshment vs. Detachment: A Better Way5:51
Being Right vs. Being Helpful7:08
Replace judgment with compassion when supporting loved ones with mental illness, balancing being right with being helpful. Use empathy, humility, and nonjudgmental guidance to empower others and maintain trust.
Have you tried this? The Problem with Advice6:10
Learn to help loved ones with mental illness by prioritizing empathy and reflective listening over advice, fostering a relationship, using empathic statements, and applying motivational interviewing for small, collaborative steps.
A Strengths Based Approach5:31
The Function of Emotions and Behaviors0:20
Explore how emotions and behaviors function within mental health contexts and learn practical strategies to support loved ones.
The Function of Depression9:32
Patience3:17

Introduction to the Skills Section of this Course0:27
Move into the skills section of this course, emphasizing your attitude and heart as you practice each skill to support loved ones effectively.
Helping them Access Resources8:26
Inviting them to Be Active4:22
Helping them Laugh1:34
Discover simple, spontaneous ways to help a family member or friend with mental illness laugh and connect through playful activities, shared playlists, workouts, cooking, games, and creative projects.
Stages of Change:Tailoring your approach to what they're ready for0:20
Asking Good Questions7:21
Extending a Helping Hand3:25
Helpful Things to Say5:47
How to Choose a Therapist6:59
Find affordable therapy by exploring school and university resources, sliding-scale city services, private practices, and referrals, and understand how cognitive behavioral therapy, therapist fit, confidentiality, and family involvement affect treatment.
What to do if they won't get help6:03
Getting Individualized Help-You Probably didn't Think of This2:23

Get off the Teeter-Totter: Homeostasis and Polarization8:38
Identify how family systems resist change through homeostasis and polarization, and learn to break rigid roles with empathy, shared responsibility, and gradual new balance.
How to talk about Suicidal Thoughts8:41
Medication6:35
Learn how medication can support mental health alongside therapy by addressing brain chemistry and neural pathways, while weighing pros, cons, side effects, and the personal decision with medical guidance.
Switch Addictions5:09
Looking Beneath Behaviors0:20
Explore the reasons behind behaviors and learn ways to support family members or friends with mental illness.
Reflective Listening8:06
Your Role as a Parent5:36
Your Role as a Spouse4:37
Discover how spouses can navigate mental illness as equal partners by fostering compassion, setting healthy boundaries, seeking early help, and counseling together to strengthen the relationship.
Getting into the Growth Zone10:28
Intimacy Issues4:44
Attention Seeking Behaviors6:23
Teaming up with them against the Illness5:05
Helping them see more clearly5:27
Intensive Treatment Options- Hospitalization and and More6:32
Learn when hospitalization or intensive treatment is needed for mental illness, including safety risks, suicidality, hallucinations or delusions, and how stabilization leads to outpatient or residential care.
What if they won't talk?4:18
Advocating in an Effective Way10:08
Learn to advocate effectively for loved ones with mental illness by partnering with schools, insurers, and providers, using a collaborative, informed approach to secure IEPs, 504 plans, and community services.
Conclusion0:31
Provide compassionate, practical skills to support a loved one with mental illness, creating a safe space for healing and growth. Remember to care for yourself as you help others.

Requirements

You need to care about someone with a mental illness.

Description

Hi Everyone! If you're here looking for my courses, I've had to move them to another platform due to some changes that Udemy has made. They're still the same great courses, but on a different platform. (They're cheaper too) Check them out at courses.therapynutshell. com

Someone you care about struggles with depression, anxiety or other mental illness and you want to know how to help.

Mental Illness is common, at least 35% of people experience mental illness during their lifetime, and some estimate that as many as 55% of people have a bout with it once during their lives. That means that as long as you know at least 3 people, odds are good that you know someone with a mental illness.

This course is packed with information for family and friends of someone with depression, anxiety, or other mental illness. It's got 5 hours of education in 55 short videos so you can know what to do to help them.

You’re taking this course because someone in your family or one of your close friends is experiencing depression, anxiety or another mental illness. They need help, and you want to know how to be helpful to them. You’re taking this course because you care about them.

Because you worry about them. Perhaps you’re afraid for their safety or their success.

You’re taking this course, because you-like your friend with a mental illness- don’t know what to do next to help.

In this course I’m going to teach you how to become an influential and positive source of support for your loved one. I’m going to teach you the changes you can make to be a more effective helper.

How to build a Relationship of influence
Boundaries
Self-care
How to listen so they’ll open up to you, (Empathic and Reflective Listening Skills)
32 Ways to help even if they don't want to talk
Stuff to say and Stuff not to Say
How to help them access resources
How to ask good questions
What to do if they won’t get help
Explore relationship dynamics that my be impeding the healing process
And 15 videos dealing with advanced topics like suicide prevention, recognizing dysfunctional roles, managing attention seeking behaviors and self harm, and so much more.

Your relationship with the person you care about is the most influential factor for change that exists. You have the ability to make a big difference in the lives of others, So Let’s get started learning how to help.

Who this course is for:

Parents, spouses, friends and family members of someone with Depression, Anxiety, or other Mental Illnesses
Mental Health Providers who want to learn a foundation in Relationship Based Influence

How to Help Family Members or Friends with Mental Illness

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

This Course is Informational, not Medical Advice1 lecture • 2min

Introduction9 lectures • 51min

Your Foundation: Your Way of Being and Relationship18 lectures • 1hr 49min

Essential Skills11 lectures • 47min

Advanced Interventions17 lectures • 1hr 41min

Specific Skills for Specific Disorders (This section is a work in Progress)1 lecture • 5min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: