The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is the largest grassroots organization dedicated to improving the lives of persons living with serious mental illness and their families. Founded in 1979, NAMI has become the nation’s voice on mental illness. With organizations and affiliates in every state, NAMI effectively provides advocacy, research, support and education about serious mental illness. Members of NAMI include individuals living with mental illness, family and friends of people with mental illnesses, mental health providers, students, educators, law enforcement, public officials, politicians, members of faith communities and concerned citizens.
In operation since 1989, NAMI Northern Nevada started as a support group. Since then, the NAMI affiliate has grown so that it now is a robust organization and provides many NAMI signature programs and other activities, carrying on NAMI mission imperatives of support, advocacy and education in Washoe County, Nevada. Programs like Peer-to-Peer, Family-to-Family, NAMI Basics and NAMI Homefront educate people with mental illnesses, their families, caregivers and partners with the most current knowledge on mental illnesses. These programs also build the coping and communication skills to strengthen relationships, and supply audiences with the community resources available which may assist recovery. NAMI Northern Nevada now provides the Family-to-Family and NAMI Basics education programs in English and Spanish. In terms of support, NAMI Northern Nevada offers support groups like NAMI Connection for individuals living with mental illness and the Family Support Group for family members of people with mental illness; these groups attend to the everyday issues and traumatic crises through group wisdom and problem solving. In advocacy, NAMI Northern Nevada is represented in local mental health coalitions and treatment centers and in public testimony at NAMI State Legislature meetings, promoting community supports and services for people with mental illnesses and their families. At all times, NAMI Northern Nevada labors to reach out to every sector of society including the Latino, African American, American Indian, LGBTQ and homeless communities, everyone affected by the issues of mental illness.