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The National Alliance on Mental Illness fights for the rights of Americans suffering from mental illness.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is an advocacy group that works to improve the lives of the mentally ill. Founded in 1979, the organization has affiliates in all 50 states, and in more than 1100 communities of the U.S. It's goals include providing support, education, and advocacy for mental patients and their families. Education and InformationOne facet of NAMI's work involves providing public education and information. NAMI has a website (www.nami.org) that receives over 5.4 million visitors a year. It also sponsors a helpline (1-800-950-6264) that takes over 4,000 calls a month. NAMI provides peer education and support, through educational programs. Some of them are Family to Family, Peer to Peer, NAMI Connection, and Hearts and Minds. All are geared towards teaching patients and families learn to live with mental illness. NAMI also provides support groups in many states and communities. NAMI also works to raises public awareness of the needs of the mentally ill. Every year the group sponsors NAMIWalks, a walk in over sixty communities to raise money and awareness of mental illness. In addition, the group has a project called StigmaBusters, which responds to negative portrayals of the mentally ill. In Our Own Voice provides readers with stories of recovery of those living with mental illness. Influencing LegislationNAMI Advocacy works to influence state and federal governments to pass legislation that helps the mentally ill. This legislation may cover research, discrimination, and access to services. For example, most recently, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report, "Young Adults with Serious Mental Illnesses: Some States and Federal Agencies are Taking Steps to Address Their Challenges." This report estimated that some 2.4 million young Americans living with mental illness fall within transition ages - the age of moving from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood. Legislation was introduced in Congress due, in part, to the efforts of NAMI's Child & Adolescent Action Center, to help these young people through state planning grants. With this in mind, NAMI urges support of the Healthy Transition Act of 2008 (HR6375/S.3195). The Action Center is one of several that "advocate for unique populations and develop and disseminate information to meet specific needs: (NAMI press release). In addition, on June 16, at the NAMI national convention, plans for the release of a major report on children's mental healthcare services, slated for release in November 2008, were discussed. Most recently, NAMI has been involved in HR 3195, the ADA Amendments Act. The Act "clarifies for the courts that people with disabiities should not lose civil rights protections because their condition is treatable with medication or can be addressed with the help of assistive technology." The bill also clarifies the definition of disability to include people whose impairment substantially limits a major life activity. HR 3195 may be moving to the House floor as early as this week (July 1).
The copyright of the article NAMI And Its Work in Social Activism is owned by Darcy DeMarco. Permission to republish NAMI And Its Work in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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