In Our Own Voice

presentations change attitudes, assumptions and ideas about people with mental health conditions. These free, 40-, 60- or 90-minute presentations provide a personal perspective of mental health conditions, as leaders with lived experience talk openly about what it’s like to have a mental health condition.

This presentation provides:

  • An opportunity to hear open and honest perspectives on a highly misunderstood topic
  • A chance to ask leaders questions, allowing for a deeper understanding of mental health conditions and dispelling stereotypes and misconceptions
  • The understanding that people with mental health conditions have lives enriched by hopes, dreams and goals
  • Information on how to learn more about mental health and get involved with the mental health community

Looking to get started?

NAMI offers several free educational classes. To find out about scheduling and signing up, please email info@namiseaz.org

What You Will Gain

The goals of IOOV  are to meet the need for consumer- run initiatives, to set a standard for quality education about mental illness from those who have been there, to offer genuine work opportunities, to encourage self-confidence and self-esteem in presenters, and to focus on recovery and the message of hope. After the presentation, audience members are encouraged to offer feedback and ask questions.

Anyone familiar with mental illness knows that recovery is not a singular event, but a multi-dimensional, multi-linear journey characterized more by the mindset of the one taking it than by
his or her condition at any given moment along the way.

Understanding recovery as having several dimensions makes its uneven course easier to accept. Recovery is the point in someone’s illness in which the illness is no longer the first and
foremost part of his or her life, no longer the essence of all his or her existence.

Key Facts

The In Our Own Voice presentation is offered free of charge to consumer groups, students, law enforcement officials, educators, providers, faith community members, politicians, professionals, inmates, and interested civic groups.

What People are saying

“Amazing presentation with amazing presenters! You 100% erased any stigma I used to associate with mental illness.” -Audience member

“Several of the mental health staff stated that they saw recovery as a real option—for the first time ever.” -Audience member

“Presenting this program is the single most effective thing I am doing to maintain my mental health. Time after time, I see the audience respond with curiosity and interest. I know I am
changing the face of mental illness and that I have transformed my pain into the power to make a difference.” -IOOV Program Leader

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