Advocacy

We believe in making a difference in the lives of both people living with mental health conditions and the people in their lives. Our advocacy efforts have led to many victories including:

Securing better funding for research.
Protecting access to treatments and services.
Attaining mental health parity to ensure that mental illness is treated equally to physical illness in most insurance plans.
Helping change how communities think of mental illness, breaking the stigma by talking openly about mental illness, and shedding light on recovery.

How Can you help? I want to get involved,

I would like to volunteer for
Support Group Facilitator
CIT Speaker
In Our Own Voice Speaker
Basics Teacher
Family to Family Teacher
Educator
Health fair or event volunteer
Facilitate a program At The Hut

Ending The Silence Presenter or Young Adult Speaker

Green Ribbon Campaign, May is Mental Health Awareness Month

Show your support in May by wearing a green ribbon during the month of May, use the # NotAlone #GreenRibbonCampaign

Learn more about our local programs!

Together For Mental Health: For 2022’s Mental Health Awareness Month, NAMI will amplify the message of “Together for Mental Health.” We will use this time to bring our voices together to advocate for mental health and access to care through NAMI’s blog, personal stories, videos, digital toolkits, social media engagements and national events.

Together, we can realize our shared vision of a nation where anyone affected by mental illness can get the appropriate support and quality of care to live healthy, fulfilling lives.

Help us spread the word through awareness, support and advocacy activities. Share awareness information, images and graphics for #MHAM throughout May.

Resources:
Share with us how you advocate for mental health by writing your personal story or sharing #Together4MH graphics and messages with your community.

Partner Resources
Download the 2022 Awareness Event Guide for May's Mental Health Awareness Month.

Advocate
Join our movement to advocate for a better mental health care system by signing up for advocacy alerts and taking action when opportunities arise in your community.

Win:
Enter to win $100 -Decorate your house, office, school, outpost, boat, car, or RV with LIME GREEN RIBBONS.
Post the photo to INSTAGRAM, use hashtags #GreenRibbonCampaign #NAMIPTC #MHM remember to tag @namipiedmonttricounty to be entered to win you must tag us and like our page. We will ask our followers to vote for the top 5 and hold a blind drawing for the winner on June 1st, 2022.

Important dates in May:

Saturday May 7th is Children's Mental Health Awareness Day

First full week of May, Children's Mental Health Awareness Week

Every day in May, Mental Health Awareness. Learn more: NAMI.org

When someone asks about your green ribbon read below to learn ways you can make a difference to those living with mental health concerns, their family, friends and loved ones.

Policy change is one of major way we can make a difference in the lives of the people we love living with mental health conditions and their families.

Mental Health Care Gets My Vote
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Learn how NAMI is providing a strong voice on these issues

Mental Health In Schools

The start of many mental health conditions most often occurs in adolescence. Half of individuals living with mental illness experience onset by the age of 14. This number jumps to 75% by the age of 24.

One in five youth live with a mental health condition, but less than half of these individuals receive needed services. Undiagnosed, untreated or inadequately treated mental health conditions can affect a student’s ability to learn, grow and develop.

Schools provide a unique opportunity to identify and treat mental health conditions by serving students where they already are. School personnel play an important role in identifying the early warning signs of an emerging mental health condition and in linking students with effective services and supports.

School personnel are in a key position to identify the early warning signs of an emerging mental health condition and to link students with effective services and supports.

Access To Treatments
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Family Education and Support

Family support and education is fundamental to the well-being of children, youth, young adults and adults who live with mental health conditions.

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Criminal Justice Issues

In a mental health crisis, people are more likely to encounter police than get medical help. As a result, 2 million people with mental illness are booked into jails each year.

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Learn More about Juvenile Justice

Employment

At work you have to weigh the advantages against the disadvantages of being open about a mental health condition.There are laws in place that protect you from discrimination and unfair practices on the job.

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Medicaid

Many states cover a broad array of community mental health services and supports in their Medicaid programs that are rarely, if ever, covered by private insurance.
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SSI and SSDI

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) both provide needed financial assistance to many people in the United States who have mental health conditions. The two programs are run by the US Social Security Administration (SSA).

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Parity For Mental Health Coverage

Parity for mental health coverage helps ensure that people get the treatment they need from their health insurance.

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Securing Stable House

For someone with a mental health condition, the basic necessity of a stable home can be hard to come by. The lack of safe and affordable housing is one of the most powerful barriers to recovery.

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