FROM NAMI BLOG
by Courtney Reyers, NAMI Director of Publishing
Next year marks NAMI’s 35th anniversary. Recent years have seen landmark changes in health care reform, something NAMI has steadfastly worked toward throughout its history.
In 2013, the rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicaid expansion—which are still underway— were important steps forward for individuals and families affected by mental illness. But there are many more areas of growth and success that can be noted as we step into 2014.
NAMI’s signature education program, NAMI Family-to-Family, was officially declared an evidence-based practice this year, putting a seal of approval on what tens of thousands of families already knew: F2F really helps in learning to understand and cope with mental illness. NAMI also offers other education and support programs; the newest ones are NAMI Ending the Silence and NAMI Homefront, both launched since Nov. 20.
Another area of tremendous growth has been NAMI On Campus. Onset of mental illness often occurs in a person’s teens or twenties. Early intervention requires education and awareness as well as communities with resources to provide support to young people in need.
Throughout 2013, NAMI also has been engaged in the National Dialogue on Mental Health that flowed from the Sandy Hook tragedy approximately a year ago. It has included fighting for a broad 
agenda of initiatives. It also has included efforts to eliminate stigma and building new partnerships.
One outlet that fosters a great sense of community and inspires hope is NAMI’s story-sharing hub,You Are Not Alone. NAMI members and friends tell us regularly that the personal stories they read submitted by others who have experienced mental illness have helped them immensely. (Please feel free to share your own story if you would like!).
NAMI also offers a national, toll-free HelpLine, 1 (800) 950-NAMI (6264) which fields more than 2,000 calls and sends out more than 100 packets of information and brochures each month. It is a critical service, staffed by trained volunteers, for individuals and families seeking information about mental illness and the mental health care system.
NAMI works every day to save lives. From battling stigma to addressing cultural disparities to reaching out to youth and advocating with policymakers, NAMI is there, fighting for and alongside the millions of Americans who face mental illness in their daily lives.
For all the progress made in 2013, we know the fight will continue. We also know we depend on the support of NAMI members, friends and readers to sustain our work. Thank you for your continued help. We look forward to working with you throughout the New Year, as part of a community dedicated to hope and recovery.
Related articles
- Stigma, lack of options hinder mental health treatment (blueridgenow.com)
- NAMI Merced Co-hosts Mental Health Discussion (namisouthbay.com)
- Volunteer Opportunities to Help NAMI South Bay (namisouthbay.com)
- About Project Return Peer Support Network (namisouthbay.com)
- Always Remember ~ No Matter What, You Are Beautiful Even With Mental Illness! (catherinelyonaddictedtodimes.wordpress.com)
- NAMI Offers Toolkit to College Students, Faculty, Coaches for Mental Health Education on Campus (namisouthbay.com)
- NAMI Homefront – New Education Program for Military/Veteran Families (namisouthbay.com)
- Ending the Silence of Mental Illness in High School (namisouthbay.com)
From Psychiatric News Alert:
“When one person in a family is living with a mental health problem, the entire family is challenged,” said NAMI Executive Director Michael Fitzpatrick. “Families of Service Members and Veterans are not immune, particularly in the case of posttraumatic stress disorder (
“The fact that less than half of children and adults with diagnosable mental health problems receive the treatment they need is unacceptable. The President and I have made it a priority to do everything we can to make it easier to access mental health services, and today’s announcements by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture build on that commitment.”
Andrew Solomon is a writer and lecturer on psychology, politics, and the arts; winner of the National Book Award; and an activist in LGBT rights, mental health, and the arts. Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity is a book of extraordinary ambition. Solomon sets out to understand how parents raise children who are radically different from them, children whose “vertical” identity, traits passed from parent to child, is overshadowed by extraordinary “horizontal” traits such as deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, disability, genius, children of rape, crime and transgenderism.
David Sheff is an American author of the New York Times best-selling memoir Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction and Clean, a myth-shattering look at drug abuse. Based on the latest research in psychology, neuroscience, and medicine, Clean is a leap beyond the traditional approaches to prevention and treatment of addiction and the mental illnesses that usually accompany it. Sheff, a journalist, has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Wired, Fortune, and National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.” Timothy Fong, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Co-Director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program and Director of the UCLA Addiction Medicine Clinic, will be the faculty speaker joining David Sheff to discuss addiction.
Journalist, film critic, and author Juliann Garey will talk about her first novel, Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See, and her experience with bi-polar disorder. Dr. Michael Gitlin, Director of the Adult Division of Psychiatry, Director of the Mood Disorders Clinic in the UCLA Dept of Psychiatry and Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA will join Ms. Garey to discuss bi-polar disorder.
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