Whether you’ve lived with a mental illness for years or have a recent diagnosis, you may be looking for more information about your situation and how to manage it. Regardless of your diagnosis, Peer-to-Peer will help you better understand your condition and journey toward recovery.
Belonging to a mental health support group—where people listen with empathy, “get” where you’re coming from, and offer words of encouragement—can lighten the load of a mental health condition.
At no cost to participants, we educate the community about serious mental health conditions, including treatments and management strategies, and how to navigate the health care system to access professional services.
Advocacy improves the lives of people living with brain disorders by improving mental health care systems and by changing values and attitudes, especially stigma and discrimination about mental health condition.
APRIL 2019 BY LOIS MAHARG In a few hours I’ll teach my first NAMI class, Family-to-Family. Teaching is not new to me. For 15 years I worked as an ESL instructor, helping adult immigrants and refugees learn English. What IS new for me is the course content: family and caregiver-related aspects of mental health conditionsContinue reading From the Board
APRIL 2019 BY LOIS MAHARG We didn’t start out as family, but family we became. By the end of a 3-day training in Livonia we knew each others’ stories and were united in our intention to put our training to use as teachers of a NAMI signature course, Family-to-Family. “I learned to focus on theContinue reading Family-to-Family Facilitators Prepared to Pay It Forward
APRIL 2019 BY BARB HIGMAN and MARILYN WEDENOJA When longtime NAMI Washtenaw County member Dr. Marilyn Wedenoja let me know she was retiring from her position as a social work professor at Eastern Michigan University and interested in volunteering in our office, I was thinking of putting together a proposal that would provide an opportunityContinue reading Lend a Hand (and Enjoy Yourself While You’re at It)
APRIL 2019 BY MARK CREEKMORE, BARB HIGMAN, PAT ROOT, & LOIS MAHARG In the current climate of austerity, can the Michigan State Legislature be persuaded to restore full funding to Community Mental Health (CMH)? Three volunteers from NAMI Washtenaw County spent Thursday, April 11, in Lansing in hopes that by sharing their stories with HouseContinue reading NAMI Volunteers Urge Funding for Community Mental Health
APRIL 2019 BY LOIS MAHARG “I am not sick, I don’t need help.” Many of us have heard that line before. Here’s the likely context: We’re convinced that medication and/or psychotherapy will help a loved one’s mental health condition, but they want nothing to do with it. In fact, they seem to be in denialContinue reading A Leap Toward Better Communication
APRIL 2019 BY LOIS MAHARG Volunteer recruitment and retention is a challenge for all nonprofit organizations, and NAMI Washtenaw County is no exception. So Judy Gardner, NAMI WC’s executive director, decided to apply for a Community Engagement Fellowship, hoping to learn more about recruiting and supporting volunteers. “I applied for the grant and I gotContinue reading Executive Director Is Awarded Fellowship
