The University of Washington’s Center for Mental Health, Policy, and the Law is pleased to host a virtual speaker series on civil commitment. Civil commitment, or involuntary commitment, is a legal intervention by which a person with serious mental illness, or other criteria, may be ordered to a psychiatric hospital or receive supervised outpatient treatment for some period of time. Recent changes in the laws governing civil commitment across the country have fueled the longstanding debate about the role of civil commitment, understanding the balance between ensuring public welfare and protecting one’s civil liberties, and providing quality health care services within the mental health care continuum.

This series brings together an array of experts, including clinicians, legal professionals, educators, policymakers, and individuals with lived experience. The speakers will provide foundational as well as advanced content on civil commitment laws and processes, ethical considerations, and clinical practices for caring for persons with mental illness.

All are welcome to attend. The series is intended to be useful to both professional and community audiences.

Participants may attend one session or the entire series.

Please use the Registration link to read more information and to register.

Fundraiser - Auction - Festival benefiting NAMI Northeast Washington

What is the NAMI Family-to-Family Education Program?

NAMI Family-to-Family is a free, 8-session education program for family, partners, friends and significant others of adults living with mental illness. The course is designed to help all family members understand and support their loved one living with mental illness, while maintaining their own well-being. The course includes information on illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression and other mental health conditions. Thousands of families describe the program as life-changing. The program is taught by trained teachers who are also family members and know what it is like to have a loved one living with mental illness.

NAMI South King County, the local organization of the National Alliance on Mental Illness,
will offer its next NAMI Family-to-Family Education Program for Spring  2025,
on Thursday, April 17 – June 5, 6:30 – 9:00 PM. The class will be held online.

Participant Perspectives

“This course overall was the single most, without a doubt, helpful and informative thing ever offered in all my years searching for answers… It has helped me to understand better and communicate more effectively with my brother.”

“The course has helped me to realize that my son is still inside the body that is often times hidden by the mental illness and that I am not alone in this.”