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NAMI offers free, confidential support, resources

Clasped hands are pictured. The National Alliance on Mental Health is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization with the mission of building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. (Journal photo by Corey Kelly)

MARQUETTE — Navigating the complexities of mental illness on your own can feel defeating. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Alger/Marquette offers free, confidential support groups for individuals living with mental illnesses, and for friends or families living with an individual who has mental illness.

According to its website, NAMI is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization with the mission of building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.

NAMI affiliate Cindy Bertucci, who herself has bipolar disorder, is involved with the organization as an advocate and an educator.

“Recovery looks different for everybody,” Bertucci said. “I show that people can function and be in recovery.”

NAMI support groups are held the second Monday and third Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. in the Baraga Place conference room located at 129 W. Baraga Ave. Special educational meetings are held January, February, March, April and May, and then again in September, October and November on the last Monday of the month, unless it falls on a holiday.

“I always say it’s a safe place to be,” Bertucci said. “To be able to share what’s bad, but also to share what’s good, because that gives others hope that things can get better.”

The free, confidential meetings are open to those suffering from a mental illness and friends and families of those with a mental illness.

“We can’t give medical advice, we can’t give legal advice, but just come and be around people that are probably going through what you’re going through,” she said.

NAMI offers the friends and family members of those who have a mental illness a 12-week educational course called “Family-to-Family” twice a year. The course is designed to educate family members, friends and others who know people with a mental illness to better understand and empathize with that person’s experience.

“What the main thing is, is it helps people understand what’s going on with their relative that has the illness — because it’s hard to understand the other side, and you really don’t know what’s going on in their brain,” Bertucci said.

The course covers a wide range of topics, including information on understanding the chemical imbalance of various mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, among others.

Class educators work to dispel the stigmas surrounding mental illness, teaching that it should be treated like any other health problem. Bertucci explained that participants learn how to empathize and accept their loved one’s disease, and learn about advocacy, recovery, coping skills and self-care practices.

“It helps you to understand and expect what’s going on, but yet learning how to take care of yourself,” Bertucci said. “You can’t do much for anyone else if you don’t take care of yourself.”

To date, more than 250,000 family members in 48 states across the country have completed the course.

“Sometimes people think that they are the only ones going through anything like this,” she said. “That’s the biggest thing people find out when they come to Family-to-Family — they’re not alone.”

For more information about the programs offered through NAMI-Alger/Marquette or for dates for the next Family-to-Family course, call Bertucci at 906-360-7107. Visit NAMI-Alger/Marquette online at www.namiam.org.

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