NAMI walk raises awareness

SANDPOINT — It's among every parent's worst nightmare.

Your child is overseas and suffers a mental health crisis.

Local veterinarian Dr. Dawn Mehra knows first-hand what that is like. Her son, then 19, was overseas when he suffered a mental health crisis and was hospitalized.

That's when she found the National Alliance for Mental Illness chapter in Bonner County.

NAMI — the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization — is dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness, Mehra said. The local chapter — NAMI Far North — serves both Bonner and Boundary counties.

Saturday, the local chapter will hold its first NAMI Walks Your Way event. The walk begins at 10 a.m. on the Dover Trail near Lincoln and Ontario.

This goal is to promote awareness and to raise funds to help NAMI provide more services for people living with mental health conditions.

Those interested can sign up using a QR code on the local chapter's website or can just show up and join in.

The group will provide snacks, water, goodie-filled backpacks and prizes as well as entertainment by Robert Pierce.

"It's the largest walk in the United States showing NAMI's solidarity across the country to welcome new possibilities, less stigma and a well-earned optimism," Mehra said.

One of hundreds walks throughout the country, it is the first one of its kind in Bonner County.

"The goal is to magnify mental health awareness, build our growing NAMI community and continue to raise essential funds for free, top-rated educational programs," she said.

NAMI was founded by a small group of families in 1979. Two women, Harriet Shetler and Beverly Young, both had sons living with schizophrenia and were tired of the blame and judgment surrounding their sons' mental illness.

Unhappy with the lack of services available and the treatment of those living with mental illness, the women sought out others with similar concerns. The result? The creation of NAMI, which now has thousands of chapters throughout the United States.

"NAMI works to educate, support, advocate, listen and lead to improving the lives of people with mental illness and their loved ones," Mehra said. "One unique fact about us is that our organization is "peer" led. That means the leaders educate and support from the perspective of their personal experience, including how they found help, support and coping skills during their own journey. This is hugely appreciated by our members."

Mehra said her discovery of the group has been the difference between a world of heartbreak to one of possibilities for her family. She has been a member ever since the group reached out in support — and she always will be, she said.

She feels obligated — adding it is an honor — to help others the way her family was helped.

It is important to advocate for families like hers as well as their loved ones who live with mental illness.

"Because of severe gaps in our health care system in the last few decades, the burden of mental health conditions now falls squarely on two shoulders, the family and legal institutions such as prisons and jails," Mehra said.

The group and its members were an invaluable lifeline for the family, helping them navigate not only their son's illness but offering support and advice.

That support and absence of judgment, the members' kindness and understanding meant the world. Mehra has been involved ever since.

"His journey took many turns over the years during which time NAMI members were there for our whole family every step of the way," she said. "Through support, mental health education and legal advice we learned how to navigate another system, one that we were not familiar with. Without family, our Sandpoint, and the NAMI community, he would be in a different place right now."

Like Mehra, Catherine Perusse knows all too well the need for real and meaningful mental health services and support. She lost two of her sons to suicide and says NAMI has been critical to helping her navigate those losses.

She wants to ensure that no other parent goes through the pain and the heartbreak of losing a child to suicide. Like Mehra, Perusse said the group and its members understood and have been there for her in all ways.

"What I found was a group of people who truly understood what it meant to find support and understanding," she said.

NAMI board members said they want anyone living with mental illness or their loved ones to know they are not alone on their mental health journey.

Having the support of NAMI, with its education, workshops and meetings is key, said one person.

“I needed a community of people that understood the challenges of my world," they said. "NAMI was enormously supportive.”

For more information about local support groups, an educational series provided by NAMI FarNorth Idaho, or how to get involved, go online to namifarnorth.org or call 208-597-2047.