What a difference a year makes! As our fiscal year draws to a close on June 30th, we are excited to let you know that NAMI Metropolitan Baltimore’s impact on the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness grew exponentially. Here are just a few of our key accomplishments:

• We expanded services to previously underserved areas in Franklin Square, McElderry Park, Catonsville, and Sandtown-Winchester.
• We piloted a family education program integrating resources for substance use disorders and trauma.
• Our volunteer base grew to over 220 active presenters, teachers, facilitators, and advocates.
• More than 1,200 people attended an In Our Own Voice presentation and heard powerful personal stories of recovery and hope.
• NAMI’s Connections Peer Support Group and Family Support Group served over 600 participants.
• 200 individuals joined a NAMI Signature education program.
• In all, NAMI Metro Baltimore served over 4,500 individuals and families in Baltimore City and Baltimore County.

And while we are proud of our accomplishments, we are merely scratching the surface. There is still much work ahead to reach the 1 in 5 people living with a mental health disorder.

In the coming months, NAMI Metro Baltimore’s priorities are set to develop an education program for faith communities. And this fall, we will launch an anti-stigma campaign on high school and college campuses.

As NAMI Metro Baltimore addresses the mental health needs of our community, our resources must also expand. Our staff of six works tirelessly to secure grant and public funding, and our active board of directors is enhancing their fundraising efforts. Individual supporters, like you, are vitally important so we can offer our services at no cost.

As our year quickly comes to a close, please consider making a donation by June 30^th. You can give online today here.

A gift – at any level – will have an immediate impact on NAMI’s critical work to replace fear and isolation with hope and connection.

Thank you!

DONATE NOW 

Share this story

Three years ago I stood in the pulpit of the church where my family had worshipped for more than three decades to give the most difficult talk I have ever had to give — offering reflections on the life and death of my 36-year-old daughter, Libby, who had passed away just a few days before. As I prepared my remarks, Libby’s sister and brother encouraged me to speak openly about the illness responsible for her death. If she had died of cancer, they noted, we would not be reluctant at all to talk about her battles with and eventual death from it. But it was not cancer that took Libby from us. It was another terrible disease — depression.

Continue reading the full Op-Ed in the Baltimore Sun.

W. Daniel Hale is special adviser to the president at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 

 

 

 

Share this story