Chances are you’ve seen or head the word — NAMI. It stands for National Alliance for Mental Illness. Its the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. It has more than 600 state and affiliate organizations across the country. Among the new affiliates is NAMI McLeod County.
Its goal is to raise mental health awareness through education, support and advocacy in McLeod county and surrounding areas by providing a support system that brings continuity across mental health social services to fulfill the needs of our communities.
Corey Kirk, who works as a direct support professional at the Adult Training and Habilitation Center of Hutchinson, led the charge for local recognition. He serves as chair of the volunteer steering committee, which includes Anna Slyter, Anna Havala, Jenny Zebel and Frank Dorsey.
“It took two years,” he said. “I’m a transplant I had to do a lot of research. I also had to learn the process of what an affiliate has to offer and what an affiliate can do. Working with national, we were approved by NAMI Minnesota in September 2021. It was from then until June 2022 to get the national approval. There’s a lot of different bureaucratic hurdles we had to get over.”
Kirk founded the organization because of his personal experience. He had been to the Hutchinson Health Mental Health Unit and he knew there were a lot of mental health providers in town, but it was difficult to navigate it by himself.
“Basically I wanted to pretty much fill that gap, to be able to introduce the community to those services that are available, to do fundraising for those services,” he said.
Among the nonprofit’s successes is a new website at namimcleod.org. It also started a NAMI Connection support group. It meets from 4-5:30 p.m. every Tuesday in the meeting room at the Hutchinson Public Library, 50 Hassan St. S.E. This weekly gathering is for adults living with mental illness. The group provides a welcoming, safe, judgment-free space to share challenges, successes and learn from one another.
Kirk said they are open to creating more support groups in the county, so if you town needs one, just reach out to him.
Goals for NAMI McLeod County include: Building a local presence and volunteers/members base; conduct a needs gap assessment to learn how we can better serve McLeod County; and build a comprehensive list of local resources, organizations and mental health providers.
To do this, the steering committee is working to get the word out. If you attended Bobbing Bobber Brewery’s Duck Duck Food Truck Extravaganza July 9, many local nonprofits shared their missions and provided games to play. NAMI McLeod County was among them. Their goal was to let people know about them, network with other organizations, as well as recruit board members and volunteers.
Next up for the new nonprofit is the McLeod County Fair, Aug. 18-21. Kirk said they’ll have a table in the Commercial Building, where they will offer a game to play, provide information about the organization and continue to recruit. They want eight to nine board members, so if you’re interested in serving, give a shout out to Kirk. He can be reached via the website.
With the group’s main focus on educating the public about mental illness, Kirk said they are looking at March 2023 to host an event with speakers who will introduce community members to mental illness, as well as providers who treat it.
“We are thrilled that they have been approved,” said Sue Abderholden, executive director of NAMI Minnesota. “... We are very pleased that people in McLeod County will have access to NAMI Minnesota classes, support groups and resources.”
