By Peggy Mangold

Special to the Salisbury Post

What is wrong with our mental health system today?

Take for example St. Jude Hospital, founded by Danny Thomas. When a child is sick, St. Jude supplies all the medication, travel, hospital stay and outpatient stay for one parent and the child!

This service is free.

How wonderful this would be if all illnesses  could and should follow this wonderful example.

Cancer, diabetes, major diseases and, of course, mental illness.

Our jails, streets and homeless shelters are overrun with people who have mental illnesses. Many are  our  veterans, who served to keep us free, with PTSD and many other illnesses.

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Rowan challenges everyone to stand up and become the heard majority, not the silent majority.

The stigma associated with mental illness — either refusing, not believing or closing our eyes — is  unbelievable.

One in four people (I think it’s more) have some form of mental illness, from the smallest child to the oldest in our society.  We need to do everything we can to help ourselves.

I believe in miracles, prayers and recovery. We have doctors for a reason, to help and aid us. The answer is out there for all our illnesses. Without support and follow-up care, medicine, a safe place to live, good food, love and understanding, a person with mental illness can not succeed.

We are all volunteers and help make up the largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness. Members of NAMI are families, friends and people living with mental illness such as major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD), panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder.

Right now we are just finishing up a free program at the Hefner VA Medical Center, open to everyone, called Family2Family, which is two and a half hours for 12 weeks or so. This program helps people to understand what a loved one is going through, how medicine affects the person, what their trigger points are plus much more.

I am sure somewhere in Salisbury is a space where we could store our office supplies and have the office open during the week staffed by volunteers. We love Gloria Dei Lutheran Church and even have a table of info out, but a tiny office would be heaven.

In January we are offering Peer Support, which is also free and lasts for 10 weeks, meeting two times a week. Also we have a new course to offer especially for the VA, Homefront, a six week course taught by veterans for veterans with my assistance. We’re very excited and can’t wait.

We love donations and are a 501(c)(3) organization. No amount is too small.

Also as soon as we have enough people signed up, we will offer NAMI Basics, an educational program for parents and caregivers of children and adolescents living with mental illnesses. It covers the fundamentals of caring for yourself, for your family and for your child. This is free and will be held on a Saturday.

All calls are welcome and everything is confidential. You are not alone. We at NAMI are here for you.

Peggy Mangold is president of NAMI Rowan.