Mental Health Awareness Month: What is NAMI?
By Chelsea Bullock, Miss S.C. Sweet Potato Festival
National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.
Miss Chelsea Bullock
Miss S. C. Sweet Potato Festival 2015
What does NAMI do? They educate, advocate, listen and lead. South Carolina does have a chapter located in Columbia, SC. For more information visit www.namisc.org or call 803-733-9592.
Mental illnesses are brain disorders. One in 4 people are affected by mental illness. Forty million Americans a year experience some type of mental illness such as major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and obsessive compulsive disorder or anxiety disorders. Some other mental health conditions that you may have not considered falling under the term mental health are:
• Substance Abuse
• Alcoholism
• ADHD
• Autism
• Eating Disorders
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
You are not alone!
When it comes to your mental health, it’s IMPORTANT to be proactive and take charge of you own situation.
1. Find the right specialist.
2. Make your 1st appointment.
3. Ask questions.
4. Stay involved.
5. LIVE WELL!
NAMI is an advocate of fighting to get the government to ensure there are adequate provisions in healthcare plans, Medicaid and Chip (Children’s Health Insurance Program) Plans. On March 29th, 2016, Mary Giliberti, chief executive officer of NAMI issued the following statement. “President Obama will establish an interagency Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Task Force to improve implementation and enforcement of parity.”
If you want to learn more about mental health, the effects, treatments and statistics there are several website you can visit. www.mentalhealthamerica.com, www.nami.org (National Alliance on Mental Illness, www.samhsa.gov (Substance Abuse and Mental Services Administration)
So let me leave with a few wonderful quotes that I have stumbled upon while encouraging whomever I come in contact with to strive for better mental health as much as you strive for better physical health:
“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.” Nido Qubein
“The best way out is always through!” Robert Frost
“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” Ralph Waldo Emerson