Minimising collateral damage: family peer support and other strategies.
The impact on family members of mental illness in a young person is intensely distressing. Symptoms that they cannot understand, and the stigma surrounding mental illness may lead to families feeling isolated in their distress. Family carers are reassured by talking with other families who have experienced the same or similar situations. The "Families Helping Families" program at ORYGEN Youth Health trains family peer-support workers, who are employed to provide information and support to families new to the service. Medical practitioners need to appreciate the importance of ensuring that families receive information and emotional support to help them cope effectively. Difficulties in helping family carers, often around perceived confidentiality restraints, need to be overcome so that collateral damage--family breakdown, persistence of symptoms, and behavioural maladjustments--can be reduced. Families who are supported can become advocates for improvements to mental health services for young people.