National Alliance on Mental Illness
Support Services

NAMI Support and Awareness Services

NAMI empowers and educates mental health consumers to address their issues around care, treatment, services, mutual support and consumer rights. Consumer programs such as NAMI Connection, Peer-to-Peer, In Our Own Voice, NAMI on Campus and Hearts & Minds are all testaments to the impact of these efforts.

NAMI's support and public education efforts are focused on educating America about mental illness, offering resources to those in need, and insisting that mental illness become a high national priority. Mental illness is a serious medical illness that affects one in four families. No one is to blame. Treatment works, but only half of people living with mental illness receive treatment. NAMI has engaged in a variety of activities to create awareness about mental illness and promote the promise of recovery.

In 1990, congress established the first week of October as Mental Illness Awareness Week in recognition of NAMI's efforts to raise mental illness awareness. MIAW has become a tradition, presenting an opportunity for all three levels of NAMI—national, state and local—to work together in communities across the country in support of the NAMI mission. NAMI offers materials and assistance to NAMI state organizations and affiliates planning activities during MIAW.

NAMI offers an array of booklets and brochures on specific mental illnesses and conditions, including many materials in Spanish language. Nearly 200,000 booklets and brochures are distributed each year through the NAMI store and the NAMI HelpLine. In addition, over 60 fact sheets are available to Web and phone visitors.

The NAMI National Information Helpline exists to provide support, education, and empowerment to individuals, family members, and others coping with severe mental illness. Along with nami.org, the Helpline is NAMI's front line contact with the public responding to over 50,000 incoming telephone, email, and postal requests annually.

The helpline is a unique, nationwide service for those most in need of NAMI's resources. The HelpLine also serves as triage for the organization at all levels with referrals to other NAMI organizations and affiliates requested by 33 percent of customers. Additionally, approximately 12 percent of callers are bilingual and request support in Spanish language and educational materials that are culturally appropriate.

NAMI produces and distributes over 30 e-newsletters each quarter on various specialty topics. In addition, NAMI produces and distributes three magazines throughout the year, including:

The Advocate, NAMI's premiere publication speaks to all aspects of the experience of living with serious mental illness in America today: current news of treatments and research; developments in national and state policy and law; support for advocacy in all of these arenas; and news from the front, both the stories and art which people with serious mental illness have to share, from the discouraging to the fortunate, from the humorous to the difficult. The Advocate is a monthly publication, distributed in print three times annually as a member benefit and electronically nine times to subscribers via nami.org.

NAMI Beginnings, the NAMI Child & Adolescent Action Center's quarterly magazine that publishes articles about child & adolescent mental health. The magazine is distributed to over 16,000 subscribers.

NAMI Avanzamos, the NAMI Multicultural Action Center's quarterly magazine that publishes articles in Spanish language about issues relating to mental illness. The magazine is distributed to over 8,000 subscribers.

NAMI Walks is a national program implemented by local NAMI affiliates to raise awareness about mental illness and promote positive messages of recovery and hope. Since 2003, over 300,000 individuals have participated in NAMI Walks, currently in 80 cities. NAMI Walks has become the number one mental health awareness and fundraising program in America having raised over $28 million to-date in support of NAMI's mission.

Schizophrenia: Public Attitudes, Personal Needs, a survey initiative released in June 2008, was designed to assess and report on American's knowledge of schizophrenia. NAMI commissioned the survey in order to raise a national dialogue. Twice as many people today live with schizophrenia than with HIV/AIDS, yet many Americans know little about the disease.

In February 2008, NAMI commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct a nationwide survey of 1,500 Americans, including 250 people living with schizophrenia and 250 caregivers of those living with schizophrenia. Results were presented in the publication: Schizophrenia: Public Attitudes, Personal Needs and reported to the national media.

NAMI StigmaBusters, a network of over 20,000 dedicated advocates across the country and around the world, seeks to fight inaccurate and hurtful representations of mental illness. Whether these images are found in TV, film, print, or other media, StigmaBusters speak out and challenge stereotypes. They educate society about the reality of mental illness and the courageous struggles faced by consumers and families every day. StigmaBusters' goal is to break down the barriers of ignorance, prejudice, or unfair discrimination by promoting education, understanding, and respect.

Since 2004, NAMI has held the Unmasking Mental Illness Gala in Washington, DC to celebrate its achievements and draw attention to mental illness and the promise of recovery. Guests include members of Congress, political leaders, and prominent researchers and scientists. NAMI presents its annual researcher award at this event.

By bringing together opinion leaders from a variety of arenas to raise the profile of mental illness with a focus on forward progress through research, NAMI is able to educate the public, reduce stigma, and establish connections that assist our efforts to improve the quality of life for those impacted by this spectrum of diseases.