For advertising information visit www.samplerpublications.com or call 859.225.4466 | September 2014
NAMI Offers Range
of Services for
Those Living With
Mental Illness
By Fiona Young-Brown
Whether you yourself have been
diagnosed, or if you are struggling
with a loved one, mental illness can be
daunting and can leave you feeling very
much alone. That is where NAMI can
step in to help.
The National Alliance on Mental
Illness (NAMI) was formed in 1979
as a grassroots mental health advocacy
organization. With a chapter here in
Lexington, NAMI offers a range of support services to help the mentally ill and
their loved ones. Marcie Timmerman,
Communications Director at Lexington
NAMI, tells me that most of those who
come to use their services are in a rabbit hole; NAMI provides the ladder to
climb out of that hole.
Below is just a sampling of their
FREE services:
NAMI Introductions is a class held
once a week at Eastern State Hospital.
Free for both individuals with symptoms and their family members, the
class is an excellent introduction to the
various services offered by the organization.
Family to Family is an 11 week class
providing education and support for
relatives of those with a mental illness.
Meeting once a week, the class covers
such topics as signs of mental illness,
latest research, medications and treatment, and crisis management strategies.
Participants also learn communication
skills and self-care, an often neglected
subject. The class is an excellent
introduction to mental illness management and to the work of NAMI. Preenrollment is required.
Participation Station is a peeroperated drop-in center. Open every
day except Saturday, the center provides
an opportunity to participate in educational tracks or to just socialize. Friday
is a quiet day, specifically for those
with major depressive disorders who
perhaps need to be around people but
without any unwanted interaction.
WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action
Program) provides participants with the
tools they need to cope with a crisis situation. Working with peer volunteers, a
person can compile a file of information
about who to contact at a time of crisis,
doctors, a plan on identifying their triggers and what to do when things appear
to be breaking down. Timmerman says
that many participants keep this file
with them, adding to it over the years,
so that wherever they go, they feel
prepared.
Warm Line is a peer-operated phone
line (877-840-5167) offering support
and someone to talk to.
Other programs include outreach
to African-American and Hispanic
communities, suicide prevention trainings, a 12-step program, and groups for
those suffering from combined drug
addiction and mental illness. NAMI
&
11
Most who come to
use NAMI’s services
are in a rabbit hole;
NAMI provides the
ladder to climb out
of that hole.
also provides speakers whose goal is to
educate community groups and schools
about mental illness and treatment.
In October, they will hold the annual
NAMIWalk at Masterson Station, an
opportunity to raise awareness and raise
funds. Walk participation is free but
donations are encouraged, and team
sponsorship programs are available.
Finally, it would be unfair to discuss
NAMI without mentioning a recent
success in which they have played a
part. Beginning October of this year,
Fayette County will see a mental health
court added to a courthouse roster
that already includes drug court, family
court, and juvenile court. This is the
result of several years of efforts by a
combined taskforce of local healthcare
practitioners and those in the legal and
law enforcement professions. As jails
becoming increasingly filled with those
who are mentally ill and in need of
treatment, the goal of the new mental
health court will be to funnel those in
need away from prisons and toward
the relevant treatment facilities. For
example, the person who throws a brick
through a window because voices are
telling him to would be better served by
psychiatric treatment than isolation in
a jail cell.
To learn more about NAMI programs in the Bluegrass area, visit their
website at www.namilexington.org.
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