PRESS RELEASE:
A Special Bipolar Awareness Day Event In Fairfield
October 11, 2007
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has designated the week of October 7-13 as Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW) and Thursday, October 11, as Bipolar Disorder Awareness Day.
Three Fairfield County NAMI chapters will mark that day with a presentation by Angela Grett, author of the 2006 book, My Mother’s Bipolar, So What Am I?
The presentation, which is being co-sponsored by the Fairfield, Trumbull and Stamford/Greenwich affiliates, will take place at 7:30 pm on Thursday, October 11, at First Congregational Church, 148 Beach Road, Fairfield, CT. The Fairfield University School of Nursing is also a co-sponsor.
From age 4, Ms. Grett’s childhood was affected by her mother’s erratic behavior, absence of parenting and broken relationships. It was only later, as an adult, that she came to understand these problems as symptoms of her mother’s untreated bipolar disorder. Her book is based on her own experiences as well as interviews with her mother and siblings, other adult children of bipolar parents, and mental health experts.
Holder of a master’s degree and a successful consultant and speaker, she developed her educational talk in order to help others overcome the difficulties of having a family member with bipolar disorder. “I’m working to bring families together and to reduce the stigma attached to bipolar and other mood disorders by informing people about the realities of the condition,” she says. Her Web site is www.ChildrenofBipolar.com.
The presentation, which is free of charge, will include the talk, a question and answer period and a book signing. Refreshments will be served. Directions to the church can be found on www.namifairfield.org. The number to call with questions about the NAMI event is 203-388-1603 in Stamford.
10/06/06
End the Stigma!
Stop. Look around. When you're at your job, driving in your car, in your classroom, grocery store, library or church. One in five people you see is affected by mental illness.
What is mental illness?
Scientists tell us that mental illness is a medical illness, and being sick with mental illness is no different than being sick with diabetes or heart disease. But if you, or someone you love, has a mental illness, it can mean a lifetime of health maintenance and specialized care.
Mental illness can often profoundly disrupt a person's thinking, feeling, mood and ability to relate to others. Mental illnesses include such disorders as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder and other severe and persistent mental illnesses.
Mental illnesses can affect persons of any age, race, religion or socioeconomic status.
Mental illnesses are not the result of personal weakness, lack of character or poor upbringing. They are not the fault of parents or the person with the illness.
Without treatment, the potential consequences of mental illness for the individual and society are staggering: unnecessary disability, unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness, inappropriate incarceration and suicide. The economic cost of untreated mental illness is more than $100 billion each year in the United States.
If mental illness affects you or your family, you are not alone. In your neighborhood, you can find support and education. The National Alliance on Mental Illness is the nation's largest grass-roots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of persons living with serious mental illness and their families.
Since its founding in 1979, NAMI has become the nation's voice on mental illness. With organizations on the national level, in every state and in over 1,100 local communities across the country, NAMI joins together to achieve its mission through research, education, support and advocacy.
This week, NAMI observes Mental Illness Awareness Week. Established in 1990 by Congress, the first week of October is designated to promote greater public understanding of the nature of mental illness and to encourage people to get help when they need it. Treatment options exists, and treatment works, if a person gets it.
Look around. If you see that fifth person in need of help, honor their individual dignity and give encouragement. Help them find it.
When you see the next fifth person, remember that it could be you.
For more information about mental illness or to find your local NAMI chapter, call 800-NAMI (6264) or visit www.nami.org.
Betsy Entwisle
President
NAMI-Fairfield
NAMI-Fairfield support group meets on the third Wednesday of every month from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in the Eliot Room of First Church Congregational, 148 Beach Ave. For information, call 259-8396, Ext. 30.
