What is SYSLE?

NAMI Sharing Your Story with Law Enforcement (SYSLE) is a presentation program that prepares individuals and family members to share their stories of lived experience with mental illness to a law enforcement audience, such as during Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training, or other events where mental illness and related topics are featured.
SYSLE Presenters provide an opportunity for officers to hear about someone who experienced being in crisis and may have interacted with law enforcement as a result, but is now living well with mental illness. The powerful and unique stories shared by NAMI presenters help increase officers’ understanding and empathy, improving crisis response in communities. These presentations are consistently popular with officers who attend CIT training and NAMI’s goal is to ensure that every law enforcement officer has this opportunity.


​What We Offer:

• Free of cost to schools and communities
• For Students: 50-minute presentation designed for middle and high school students that includes warning signs, facts and statistics and how to get help for themselves or a friend. Research has shown that NAMI Ending the Silence for Students is effective in changing middle and high school students’ knowledge and attitudes toward mental health conditions and toward seeking help
• For School Staff: 1-hour presentation for school staff members that includes information about warning signs, facts and statistics, how to approach students and how to work with families
• For Families: 1-hour presentation for adults with middle or high school aged youth that includes warning signs, facts and statistics, how to talk with your child and how to work with school staff

​Schedule a Presentation

​If you would like to schedule a NAMI Ending the Silence presentation, please contact NAMI Whatcom at 360-671-4950 or send an email to namiadmin@namiwhatcom.org