Why NAMI North Carolina?

Justin was 12 when he stopped taking the medication he’d been prescribed for ADHD. The stimulant had caused an alarming weight loss, and his mother understood the psychiatrist to say that there were no other choices. But without the medication he lost all hope of keeping up in school, started hanging out with undesirable friends, and staying out all night.

Fortunately Justin’s mother found the NAMI North Carolina Young Families program. Staff helped her find a new psychiatrist, who diagnosed Justin with both bipolar illness and ADHD. With a different medication, Justin was able to return to middle school, although the principal remembered him as a "troublemaker" who would never succeed. Justin proved him wrong: with a few simple accommodations for his illness and the help of a dedicated guidance counselor, Justin has progressed to high school with no disciplinary problems in the ensuing two years. His teachers recently praised him for his positive attitude and tenacious spirit.

Justin’s mother now serves on a county-wide task force for children with mental illnesses, and has become a mentor to other families.

Jimmy is a computer operator whose wife has major depression. But Jimmy hadn’t really understood her illness. "I had cursed and threatened her," he said, because she slept all day and neglected their 17-month-old child.

Fortunately, Jimmy heard about a "Family-to-Family" class sponsored by a local NAMI affiliate, and was able to attend. In the 12 sessions of this remarkable program he learned about the biochemical basis of mental illness, and about its impact on both the person with the illness and his/her family. His teachers and classmates have helped him understand that this illness isn’t his wife’s "fault."

"If she were as sick with heart trouble or cancer as she is with depression," Jimmy says now, "I’d be bringing her flowers and praying for her." He has arranged for child care for their toddler, and passed other home-care suggestions on to his wife’s psychiatrist.

Charles has schizophrenia. He had left his eastern North Carolina home and family and traveled to Delaware. In the throes of psychosis, he’d been arrested on a variety of charges, including assault on a police officer. His family called the NAMI North Carolina Helpline.

NAMI staff first consulted with the mental health center in his home community in North Carolina. Staff there agreed to document the availability of treatment services to the public defender and the court in Delaware. With guidance from the NAMI North Carolina staff, his family succeeded in traveling to Delaware, getting the charges dropped, and bringing their son home to the treatment he needs.

The characters’ names in these three stories have been changed, but all are true and all share an important theme. Mental illness, especially when poorly understood or inadequately treated, can be devastating. But one organization -- NAMI North Carolina – is providing real help and addressing this serious problem many effective ways.

The programs and services of NAMI North Carolina are described in the following pages of this Case Statement. You’ll see there programs in each of the three main focus areas:

Support: we helped build the 30 local NAMI affiliates in North Carolina, where consumers and family members can find grass-roots volunteers who have "been there and done that" and can offer a sympathetic ear, understanding, tangible help, and hope for the future. We are helping to extend the NAMI movement into more communities in our state. Our 800-number Helpline connects people to the resources they need. We have helped train support group facilitators. Our Young Families program provides volunteer mentors for families of school-aged children, and the services of staff to help them understand their children’s needs and to help them deal with school systems and other agencies to make sure those needs are met.

Education: our signature "Family-to-Family" classes are offered across the state, and make dramatic differences in the lives of those who are dealing with a loved one’s mental illness. The class has been offered over 100 times, and almost 200 volunteers have been trained to teach it. We publish a highly praised newsletter, Clippings, 10 times a year. We offer two statewide conferences featuring nationally recognized researchers and workshops on policy issues, new treatment techniques, housing, employment, and ways to make our affiliates even more effective.

Advocacy: NAMI North Carolina is "North Carolina’s Voice on Mental Illness." We speak in the halls of our General Assembly and executive branch of government on behalf of those whose voices would otherwise not be heard. We are striving for parity in health insurance, so that those whose illness happens to be a brain disorder aren’t treated differently than those whose illnesses are disorders of other organs. Thanks in part to NAMI North Carolina, the public mental health system will be systematically reformed for the first time in 30 years, and we have made a substantial start on the state’s efforts to comply with the recent Olmstead decision of the U.S. Supreme Court.

NAMI North Carolina’s broad array of programs and services is literally changing the lives of thousands of individuals. Before they found NAMI North Carolina, they were struggling alone, bewildered, confused, and angry because of a family member they could not help and whose illness they could not understand.

NAMI North Carolina’s recent accomplishments are certainly impressive and worthy of appreciation and support by everyone concerned with mental illness and the high human and financial burden it imposes on the people of the state. NAMI North Carolina is doing more than any other organization in the state to reach out to individuals and families in North Carolina affected by mental illness.

But much remains to be accomplished. During the coming year, 2001-2002:

• NAMI North Carolina is planning to intensify its advocacy on the state level to achieve solid legislative victories that will dramatically reform and improve treatment for individuals with mental illness.
• NAMI North Carolina is planning to develop its affiliates through an innovative grants program to help build membership, expand support groups, and strengthen leadership.
• NAMI North Carolina is planning to continue to increase the number of Family-to-Family classes, train teachers, and enroll everyone who needs help in understanding and dealing with the mental illness of a friend or family member throughout the state.
• NAMI North Carolina is planning to expand and strengthen its Young Families Program to educate more parents and teachers and provide support to many more families through its enlarged mentor program.
• NAMI North Carolina is also planning to provide businesses in North Carolina with helpful information about how mental illness affects individuals in the workplace as well as how their employees can gain access to all of its education and support programs. Mental illness affects as large a percentage of employees as people in the general public and costs businesses many millions of dollars in days absent from work and in loss of employee productivity on the job. NAMI North Carolina, by building effective partnerships with major businesses in the state to help employees, will be able to help many more people and help improve productivity and bottom line results for businesses as well.
• NAMI North Carolina is planning a media campaign – "Treatment Works – We Can Help – You Can Help" – to help affected families and the general public learn more about mental illness, the effective treatments that are available for them, and how to access our help. At the same time, we’ll be enlisting new members and supporters who can help us accomplish our critical mission.

How You Can Help

NAMI North Carolina has wonderful plans for strengthening and improving all of its programs in the coming year. Each of the tabbed sections which follow includes specific information about each of these programs, their goals for the year, and ideas for how you can help.

Because of the generous support of nearly 1,000 generous members and friends, NAMI North Carolina has been able to build programs of proven effectiveness and benefit. With your continued support and that of many other members and friends, NAMI North Carolina will be able to help everyone in the state who is affected by mental illness and dramatically reduce its now largely unnecessary human and financial burden.

Please read the following case statement carefully and thoughtfully. While you learn about NAMI North Carolina’s inspiring programs, consider what you can do to help by adding your generous financial support to that of nearly 1,000 other members and friends who believe that NAMI North Carolina is the best hope for overcoming mental illness in the state and reducing all of the suffering it causes. You can be confident that your gift will directly benefit those who most need help and will be most sincerely appreciated.