The National Alliance on Mental Illness is campaigning to raise public awareness to the plight of people who have mental illness and their families.
By Melonie Magruder / Special to The Malibu Times
On Saturday, you’d be crazy not to walk.
That is the battle cry for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, and they are looking for foot soldiers to help bring public awareness to their cause: help for sufferers of mental illness and their families. The first week of October is designated National Mental Health Week and NAMIWALKS’ 5K march is slated for 10 a.m. this Saturday, starting at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.
Walk organizer Shelley Hoffman of NAMI L.A. said the 3rd Annual Walk For The Mind of America is designed primarily to educate the public on the insidious nature of mental disorder.
“Mental illness still has a stigma attached to it,” Hoffman said. “Nobody wants to talk about it. But mental health issues affect as many as one in four families in America.”
NAMI affiliates provide free information and support for families of those suffering from mental illness, from referral services to programs such as Family to Family, which give overviews of mental illness and methods to negotiate the sometimes Byzantine mental health services offered by the state. “Mental illness is a terrifying concept for most families of those who are suffering, whether it is clinical depression, bipolar disorder or a sudden psychotic episode,” explained Malibu resident and NAMI member Brian Canning. “We sit down and give them solid information on how best to help a loved one whose disease is overwhelming. Because they will get answers from us that they won’t get from county services.”
Outreach programs offered by NAMI include In Our Own Voice, wherein trained presenters give personal testimony of their journeys with mental illness through darkness, acceptance, treatment, coping skills and, ultimately, success.
“We also coordinate the Free Your Mind project, which tries to break the stigma attached to mental illness through education via the media, private partnerships and even movies,” Canning said.
Both Hoffman and Canning stressed the omnipresent nature of mental illness.
“A vast majority of homeless people suffer mental illness,” Canning said, “yet it is widespread in our society.”
He noted that mental illness is beginning to come out of the shadows, thanks to the frank admissions of celebrities such as singer Rick Springfield, a Malibu resident, who suffered for years with clinical depression, and actress/author Carrie Fisher, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a teenager.
It is estimated that mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in the country and that the financial burdens associated with mental illness such as treatment, hospitalization, incarceration, law enforcement efforts and domestic abuse cost the nation upward of $100 billion a year.
Efforts to focus representatives’ attention in Washington on the pervasive and expensive issue of mental health have been fruitless, Hoffman said.
“I was at a National Mental Health Convention in D.C. last year and we marched to the Hill to try and speak to Congress. Nothing. Our representatives seem supportive, but no bills actually get to the floor,” she said.
NAMI, however, took the lead in 2004 to get a mental health funding initiative on the ballot in California. Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act, was passed and imposes a 1 percent income tax on people earning more than $1 million a year to fund a program that expands treatment and resources for mental health care. Education is the key, Hoffman stressed.
“NAMI can educate the families of people suffering from mental disorders, so that they can, in turn, help their loved ones with schizophrenia or manic depression before they commit a crime or end up living on the streets,” she said.
Canning noted how misunderstood mental illness continues to be in the public eye. Even though local law enforcement agencies are grateful for any information that helps them in their efforts, it is difficult to discern the difference between someone with true criminal intent and someone suffering mental delusion.
“I am working to help a guy that was found camping out in Halle Berry’s house recently,” Canning said. “Though he is obviously [schizophrenic] and in need of help, he is being prosecuted as a stalker.”
Those interested in participating in the Walk For the Mind of America can register on-line by going to www.namiwalkslac.org or registering on site, at the 1300 block of the Third Street Promenade, Saturday morning, beginning at 8 a.m. The walk, which begins at 9:30 a.m., will go up the Promenade and over to Ocean Boulevard.
“We expect about 3,000 marchers and hope to raise at least $300,000,” Hoffman said, “but you don’t need to be a sponsor or donate yourself. Just come and march with us.”
Canning concurred.
“This is not your typical fundraiser,” he said, “We also want to raise awareness and faith here in our community.”