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NAMI EASTSIDE |
NAMI Eastside News - From the Editor The NAMI Eastside
News “From the Editor” column is penned by Susan Rynas. You can reach
Susan via e-mail at sgrynas@yahoo.com (include "Newsletter”
in subject line) or contact the NAMI Eastside office at 425-885-NAMI (6264). FROM THE EDITOR: MAY - JUNE 2003 Recently, when visiting New England, I attended a local NAMI family support group. It was such a positive, enriching, and educational experience that I feel very comfortable encouraging other NAMI Eastside members to attend such meetings when visiting other states this summer. Not only are new friendships created but it is possible to "get a sense of how things are" for the mentally ill and their families in this other location. This experience is especially beneficial since each state differs in its delivery of mental health services. It is helpful to compare and contrast. In New Hampshire, for instance, numerous certified clubhouses were up, running, and heavily utilized. In other words, though mental health funding was cut in this state in recent years, the clubhouse model of rehabilitation/recovery was still valued and supported. Additionally, NAMI New Hampshire participated in the first nationwide NAMIWALKS and the state's first lady was an honorary co-chair of the event, along with a popular television news anchor. The state organization will use funds raised in the 5k walk to increase its support, education and advocacy programs. The occasion of my visit to the East Coast was my mother's 85th birthday. She and I had a wonderful time together and the only instance in which I saw her sad was when the conversation turned to her granddaughter in Washington state and this grandchild's current life circumstances: mental illness, lack of treatment, and homelessness. It was difficult to watch my mother cry. No family should be put in the helpless role of watching a loved one deteriorate on the streets, uncared for and essentially alone. To claim that such an existence is a freely chosen lifestyle rather than the result of an untreated brain disorder lacks both common sense and logic. Daily, we sacrifice human beings to their illnesses in the name of freedom. Untreated mental illness and defacto abandonment to homelessness affects more than the person experiencing the illness. Such neglect ripples past the nuclear and extended family to the larger population within cities, counties, states, eventually encompassing the entire nation. It is a tragic loss of human potential of immense proportions, especially given that with proper diagnosis, community outreach, medication, therapy, and necessary supports (such as adequate, stable housing), many wandering, homeless mentally ill individuals could and would lead lives enriched by employment, relationships, and personal meaning. Do we really lack the vision, will, determination, and value system that would right this awful mess we have created? If so, I cry along with my mother. Till next time. Take good care. Susan
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