Friends for Mental Health is a non-profit community organization that provides families and friends with the support, information and education they need to help them cope with a loved one's mental illness.

Facing mental illness is painful for families. It undermines their ability to cope with everyday living. Friends for Mental Health guides families towards new paths in learning to live with mental illness. We listen and counsel, we provide information and referrals, we offer self-help and respite, and we promote public awareness.

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Flexible and responding to changing needs, Friends for Mental Health works in collaboration with other professional mental healthcare providers. We are a non-profit, bilingual organization serving primarily the West Island of Montreal.

Mental illness affects one in five families. Between 40%-65% of adults with severe and persistent mental illness either live with or receive primary care from their families.

In the past 25 years, many associations for families of the mentally ill have sprung up to fill the ever-increasing need for information and support. In Quebec alone, there are close to forty groups which are part of la Fédération des familles et amis de la personne atteinte de maladie mentale (F.F.A.P.A.M.M.) which began in 1986 and has been funded since 1991 by le Ministêre de la santé et des services sociaux.