NAMI of Whatcom County
Reports and Articles

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill has more than 1200 groups throughout the United States. If you have a loved one who has disappeared or who is in another state, call the NAMI helpline: (800) 950-6264 to find the state president of the NAMI group in that state (or go to the web site at http://www.nami.org and stroll down to affiliates.) The state president will give you the name and number of the nearest affiliate who might be able to help you. A couple of examples: One of our members had a relative in Idaho who was ill and in need of services. NAMI in Idaho was able to find help for the relative. Another example is more current. Recently, we had a call from a member in a southern state whose relative ended up in the criminal justice system here in Bellingham. For ten days in jail, the relative had no psychiatric medications until NAMI was called and advocated to get the jail liaison involved.

Since Mental Illness Awareness Week, NAMI has been providing a new educational workshop for the community. The workshop titled: Children Do Suffer from Mental Illnesses is taught by college instructor , whose former husband and son suffer from mental illnesses. She has presented the two-hour seminar to teachers, counselors, and parents in school districts throughout the county.

The workshop includes a short video by the National Institute of Mental Health which summarizes brain research. To analyze the best course of treatment, she compares treatments of the past, received by her husband, with appropriate and effective treatment offered her son. She stresses that mental illnesses are physical illnesses of the brain, which respond most favorably to early interventions and appropriate treatments. She describes how students with depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety or schizophrenia might behave in the classroom. She suggests where to find the most up-to-date research and the best resources on illnesses that effect one in five people.

Workshops have been organized by the Readiness to Learn coordinators at the Ferndale, Blaine and Lynden school districts. She's already been asked to repeat the workshop in Blaine.

“The workshops are fun to give,” she says, “because teachers and counselors respond eagerly to the material. And I think it helps to break down stigma when we talk about these complex illnesses which plague so many of us. At the last workshop, several people lingered to talk to me about their own family's experiences.”

She adds: “I do hope I'll be invited to speak to faculty and counselors in the Bellingham School District. It'll be a chance to publicly thank Jean Havland, my son's counselor, and the faculty of Options High School who responded professionally and compassionately when I was so worried about my son.”

The free workshops include packets of information provided by NAMI. To schedule the workshop call the NAMI office at 360-671-4950.

NAMI stands for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. It is a grassroots organization that started 20 years ago and now has more than 208,000 members nationwide.

So we're a large group of individuals; you could say we're a motley group of people. We are bound, it seems to me, by one common experience. We have known suffering.

Suffering walks hand in hand with neurobiological brain disorders. Uninvited, suffering lives in our homes. Suffering pulls a chair up to our table, and it lies beside us in bed. NAMI members, just like physicians, have witnessed suffering that's physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. So because of that common experience, people who join NAMI tend to share common behaviors. I'm going to define NAMI for you by describing our behavior.

Because we've known suffering, we seek out education. As a group, we tend to believe that through education we might be able to alleviate some of the suffering. So over the years, NAMI has devoted itself to learning. It began a course, a free 12-week class called Family to Family which describes mental illnesses and teaches us how to turn disasters into disabilities. We've also got a website: www.nami.org that shares current research, describes illnesses, and treatment possibilities. And what I'm most proud of, NAMI has been in the forefront of funding and encouraging scientific research in universities across the country and abroad through the Stanley Foundation and NARSAD.

Because we've known suffering, NAMI also provides support groups. Often the Family to Family courses live on as support groups, the members bonding long after the course ends. We also have support meetings, the third Thursday of each month. I've heard NAMI folks say that when they talk to each other they know they are heard, empathetically understood. There's no blame or shame. We tend, instead, to affirm that yes, our suffering is real.

Unfortunately, the suffering that walks hand in hand with neurobiological brain disorders is often compounded when the ill seek treatment. So it's natural that NAMI members become activists. To diminish the suffering we want insurance companies to provide medical coverage at parity with other physical illnesses. We want those who suffer from mental illnesses and are homeless to be provided treatment and homes; we want those who and in jail to be given medications and rehabilitation; we want people in crisis who make their way to emergency rooms to be taken in and cared for until the crisis passes, without the burden of proving that they are homicidal or suicidal. We want access to medications for those left out of the mental health system, and we want best practices for all.

And lastly, because we have known suffering, NAMI members fight the stigma that has existed for centuries against people who suffer from schizophrenia and severe depressions.

These are our common experiences and goals.

Successful Forum Also Proves There Is More We Can Do

By all accounts, the presentations given by Dr. Peter Jensen on children and adolescent brain disorders were a success. Dr. Jensen, former director of children and adolescent brain research, spoke to more than 300 at the afternoon forum and to 65 physicians and NAMI state board members in the evening of November 19.

Special thanks to doctors Sara Cuene, Mary Ellen Shields, Marcy Hipskind and Robert Watson for being the first physicians to join NAMI in sponsoring an educational event. We are also grateful to Solvay Pharmaceuticals who provided an educational grant, and to St. Luke's Community Health Education Center and their professional staff who helped us accommodate the large turnout.

Fifty-seven rated the event as excellent; 28 rated it as very good and 3 as good. No one rated the seminar below good.

The evaluations also pointed out the need for further education and support and more comprehensive care for children with brain disorders. When asked, “What is the greatest need in regard to the children for whom you have responsibility or whom you know,” most responded with: “accurate diagnosis,” followed by “support for parents, teachers or counselors,” and “up-to-date information.” Fifty-two of our respondents said they were interested in taking our Family to Family Education Course and 48 said they were interested in an Adolescent Support Group.

So we at NAMI must continue providing educational opportunities and support for each other.

Those interested in joining or leading a support group, please call the NAMI Office at 360-671-4950. We are a volunteer organization that relies on the generous and professional spirits of each other, people like Dr. Jensen, who shared his expertise, speaking to two large audiences, for six hours, for free.

Readable and Informative

The Journal, published by the California Alliance for the Mentally III, dedicates each of its four yearly issues to comprehensive coverage of a particular topic, such as an illness, or housing, or violence, or systems change, or brain research, or providers. It is a unique publication, well worth reading. Copies of the journal are in our office. If you would like to subscribe, mail your $25.00 check to THE JOURNAL/CAMI or send credit card information to: THE JOURNAL, 1111 Howe Avenue, Suite 475, Sacramento, CA 95825. Or call 916-567-1063.