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NAMI COLUMBUS IS A FAMILY OF FAMILIES
When a serious physical illness strikes a family member, flowers and fruit baskets are sent. Neighbors and friends call and come by to see how they can help. If the illness is on-going, many organizations provide respite care. Support and sympathy is abundant. When a biologically based brain disorder strikes however, life becomes a huge struggle. Friends and relatives avoid you. No flowers or fruit baskets arrive to cheer you. The stigma of mental illness confronts you on an almost daily basis. Relatives and friends of someone with a no-fault brain disease have frequently been left alone to discover how to deal with all of the almost overwhelming obstacles of trying to help their loved one.
NAMI (the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) wants families to know that we are here for them and that they are not alone. We need you to help us spread the word about NAMI Columbus to other families who are struggling with the effects of mental illness.
NAMI is a national network of families who volunteer to work together to improve the lives of people who are affected by a wide-range of serious biological brain disorders. Nationally we have over 220,000 families who belong. Georgia has a state office and 30 affiliates of which Columbus is one. Our goal is to give family members the information and support they need to secure an array of services which will best suit their relative's needs.
NAMI is built upon 4 cornerstones:
· Support -- Mental Illness can be devastating to the people with them AND to their families as well. Support is an absolute necessity to get through the various stages of these illnesses.
· Education -- The public has many misconceptions about mental illnesses. One of these misconceptions is the basic definition of mental illness. NAMI bases the definition of mental illness on the latest research stating that serious mental illnesses are biological brain disorders. NAMI provides brochures that explain various illnesses and treatments. Twice a year NAMI Columbus also offers a free 11 week course that is called Family-to-Family. This is a comprehensive course that helps family members and caregivers better understand and cope with serious brain disorders. We have a similar type of class, but for parents and/or caregivers of children and adolescents, which is called Visions for Tomorrow. In addition, NAMI National recently announced that NAMI Georgia has been awarded a grant to bring another course to our state entitled Peer-to-Peer. This is a course taught by and for consumers (people living with brain disorders) so that they might learn how to reach and maintain recovery with their illness. Columbus is one of the pilot cities for this new course.
· Advocacy -- Advocating for what is right and humane is undeniably important. NAMI has a national campaign underway to end discrimination and demand fair policies. A brain disorder should not be treated any differently than any other physical illness. NAMI Columbus has been effective in the past using advocacy techniques in 3 areas which have helped our community. 1) We sponsored a public forum which successfully fought the closure of West Central Georgia Regional Hospital. 2) We have been advocating for less cutbacks of services with our federal, state and local leaders. 3) We helped our local leaders to bring a Mental Health Court to Columbus. Muscogee County was one of only 13 municipalities in our country that was given a federal grant for this purpose. We also have many other ongoing advocacy efforts all year long.
· Research -- Finally, thanks to organizations like NAMI, research is becoming an important tool in helping treat and care for people suffering from serious brain illnesses. Whether it's research on the brain itself, or discovering new drugs, more strides have been made in the last 10 years than in the last 100 years combined.
Our local affiliate, NAMI Columbus, meets the 2nd Monday of every month at 7:15 PM. Generally, an educational program is presented to our members. We also sponsor two support groups (one for family members and one for consumers) that meet the 2nd and 4th Mondays at 6:00 PM of every month. Both meetings are held at the Health and Human Services Center at 2100 Comer Avenue, Columbus, Georgia. (Please note that there may occasionally be changes to meeting days due to holiday conflicts.)
We want to share our Community of Hope with anyone who has to deal with mental illness. The motto of NAMI Columbus is "We care because we've been there!" We remember vividly how we felt when the illness first struck and we use this empathy to reach out to others who are struggling. We "pay it forward" by helping other families navigate the mental health system.
Anyone interested in finding out more about NAMI might want to check out the wealth of information at the national NAMI website: http://www.nami.org, and the NAMI Georgia website: or the NAMI Georgia web site http://www.namigeorgia.org. The phone number for NAMI Columbus is 706-718-8809. We hope you contact us.
NAMI Columbus Officers:
President - Sue Marlowe - 706-718-5710 - Suem12@juno.com
Vice President - Carol Greer - 706-718-1901 - CarolGreerNAMI@aol.com
Secretary - Kay Schiavone - 706-563-5881 - KaySchiavone@Yahoo.com
Treasurer - Mimi Marlowe - 706-687-3771 - Mimimarl@aol.com
Immediate Past President - Doris Keene - 706-569-7088 - dfkeene@knology.net
Board Member - Linda Ames - 706.323.4014 - liam0439wulfdotter@knology.net
Board Member - Steve Scott - 706-317-4644 - sscott@threeriversahec.org
Board Member - Wardell Williams - 706-568-5107 - WTWOO7@aol.com
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