BRIDGES stands for Building Recovery of Individual Dreams and Goals through Education and Support. The mission of BRIDGES is to empower people who have mental health disorders to take an active and informed role in their treatment and to recover a new sense of purpose in life. BRIDGES is a self-help program that provides education and support to adults who have mental health disorders. There are two parts to the program: a set of courses on recovery taught by mental health consumers and support groups facilitated by mental health consumers.

BRIDGES is built on a philosophy of recovery, a philosophy that one can live an active and full life even while experiencing psychiatric symptoms. Participants learn that there is no need to put life on hold because of depression or anxiety or even delusions or hallucinations. The BRIDGES curriculum takes teachers and students on an exploration of the road to recovery that lies before them. The curriculum includes:

• Information about psychiatric disorders;
• Information about medications;
• Best practices in mental health treatment; and
• The skills needed to help oneself and others.

By learning about mental health disorders and treatment, participants learn to identify their own barriers to recovery and then gain the ability to put those barriers in the background and get on with life.

The 10-week education component of the program includes classes of different lengths designed for consumers in either community or inpatient settings. Courses offer detailed information on mental illness, mental health treatment, self-help skills and the philosophy of recovery. The goal is to empower students to take an active role in their treatment and recovery. Classes include discussions and exercises to help students apply the information.

The other part of the program consists of ongoing support groups. BRIDGES support group meetings provide a structured way for individuals to work with one another to strengthen coping skills and to deal with the realities of living with a mental health disorder. These meetings supply the emotional “glue” that enables people to ease feelings of helplessness, hopelessness or guilt. The “Principles of Support” and “Emotional Stages of Recovery” used in BRIDGES support groups provide individuals with a foundation for building and maintaining a healthy, happy life.

BRIDGES History

BRIDGES originally grew from a need throughout rural Tennessee where people who had mental health disorders lacked the knowledge they needed about mental health disorders and felt isolated and alone. People wanted to know what was going on, how to find good help, how to help themselves and how to find others who would understand. In 1994, the Tennessee Mental Health Consumers’ Association (TMHCA), the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Tennessee (NAMI TN), and the then-called Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation collaborated to develop a peer-run program to serve those educational and support needs. The program was built on the model of the Journey of Hope, a similar program for family members of people who have mental health disorders.

The BRIDGES curriculum was written mostly by people who have mental health disorders who had expertise in the requested topic. From the beginning, the demand was great. People were hungry for information and were eager to do the meaningful work of teaching. Since 1994, BRIDGES has been implemented in large and small communities across Tennessee, and more than 3,000 individuals take part in BRIDGES each year. Its success has led to its replication in 12 states and provinces in the United States and Canada.

The BRIDGES support groups began in the spring of 1996 and have been similarly successful. Participants say they value the careful support group facilitator training and supervision that is part of the BRIDGES program. Support group facilitators have a clear idea of what they should do and whom to go to for guidance. This has translated into a sense of stability and security within support groups that can be heard in the saying “With BRIDGES, you are not alone.”

How to find a BRIDGES class

For more information about BRIDGES in your area, please call us at (888) 539-0393 or e-mail TMHCA at info@tmhca-tn.org. Click here for the TMHCA website.

TMHCA BRIDGES
955 Woodland Street
Nashville, TN 37206
(615) 250-1176
Email: info@tmhca-tn.org

BRIDGES classes are funded by the Tennessee Department of Mental Health.