The free Family-to-Family Education program for family members of people living with mental illness will be held in Gloucester this fall.

The classes will be held Wednesdays and Fridays for six weeks starting on Sept. 28 at 6 p.m. in the board room at Riverside Walter Reed Hospital, Gloucester.

The Mid-Tidewater affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness is offering the program. This 12-session course for family members is taught by other family members who have received intensive training for its presentation, a release said.

Topics will include current information about schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorder (manic depression), panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, borderline personality disorder, and co-occurring brain disorders, and addictive disorders.

Also, up-to-date information about medications, side effects, and strategies for medication adherence; current research related to the biology of brain disorders and evidence-based treatments to pro...