NAMI North Carolina will present the Outstanding Affiliate of the Year Award to NAMI Western Carolina at the Annual Conference in Raleigh on September 10. We will share this award with NAMI Wake County.

This has been a tremendously successful year for our affiliate and a tribute to the work done by NAMI WC since we began in 1988. This year, we:

• opened our office in October 2009 and have had more than 700 visitors
• are able to offer an audio/visual room, a computer room and a lending library
• had our first NAMIWALKS in ASHEVILLE on May 1, 2010
• trained five Family Support Facilitators
• increased the number of Connection support groups to one per week
• held three Family-to-Family trainings with a fourth now ongoing
• held two NAMI BASICS classes
• revived In Our Own Voice
• have partnered with other Western Carolina mental health non-profits on a variety of programs
• have held two W.R.A.P. trainings with a third to begin in September
• improved our website,

and grown our affiliate in many other ways.

Thanks to all of you who helped to make this such an “Outstanding” year by attending our groups and classes, volunteering in the office and at events, joining our affiliate, and by making donations to help us to fulfill our mission. This is YOUR award. We did this together and will continue to  expand and improve in 2011.

Meetings will no longer be held at MountainHouse, 225 E. Chestnut Street, Asheville beginning in August 2010.

Meetings held on the first Saturday of the month at 10 a.m. will now be held at 356 Biltmore Avenue, Suite 400, just down the hall from our office (Suite 298). Some of you may remember this as Heath Shuler’s old office.

Meetings held on the third Tuesday of the month will also be held at 356 Biltmore, Suite 400. PLEASE NOTE THE TIME CHANGE AS OF SEPTEMBER 21, 2010. Support groups for caregivers/family and consumers will begin at 6:00 p.m. The general meeting, with speakers, will follow from 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. This change has come at the request of members.

Our 11 a.m. Connection support group for consumers will continue to meet on the second and fourth Mondays of the month at our office in Suite 298.

Please note the changes and join us at our new space! Call for more information – 828-505-7353.

Don’t miss these upcoming opportunities to get teacher-trained in NAMI’s signature support and education programs in Asheville:

Oct. 15 – 17, 2010 – Family-to-Family, NAMI Basics and In Our Own Voice.

For more information about these teacher training opportunities, please contact Brenda Piper, Programs Director (Family-to-Family) at 919-788-0801 x 4 or at bpiper@naminc.org.

Jennifer Rothman, Programs Director (NAMI Basics, In Our Own Voice) at 919-788-0801 x 2 or at jrothman@naminc.org.

Western Highlands once again offered a Peer Employment Training August 16 – 27, 2010 for individuals who are well into their own recovery from mental illness and/or addictive disorder and who are interested in helping others achieve their goals through wellness.

A graduation and networking event will be held on Friday, August 27 at 1 p.m. at MAHEC, 501 Biltmore Ave., in Asheville.  This event is free and open to the public. Please join us!

If you are interested in learning about future trainings, please  contact Andrea Morris at morr0806@westernhighlands.org  or at (828) 225-2785 ext. 2908. Applications are located on the Western Highlands website at http://www.westernhighlands.org .

Bonnie and Bill Kinschner, One Mind Mental Illness Ministry

Bonnie and Bill help develop, support, and nurture caring communities of faith for those affected by mental illness through education, training, and support. (onemindmentalillnessministry.com)

First Presbyterian Church of Swannanoa
372 Bee Tree Road, Swannanoa, NC 28778
Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2010
6:30-8:30 PM
(Refreshments provided)
For information, call 828-581-0080 or email heck4247@yahoo.com

*  Our next six-week Wellness and Recovery Action Plan (W.R.A.P.) class begins on Thursday, September 30 from 4 – 6 pm at our office – 356 Biltmore Avenue, Suite 298. Materials charge is $25. This class is approved for 12 hours of credit for Peer Support Specialists. Register early. Class is limited to six. Contact Christine Smith at 828-505-7353 or at cijp1860@yahoo.com. The next class will begin in January 2011.

*  Family-to-Family classes begin on Monday, September 16 in both Henderson and Rutherford Counties. To sign up, please contact Leslie Huntley (NAMI Four Seasons – Hendersonville) at 828-894-3507 or huntleywhiteoak@windstream.net or Betty Frye (NAMI Rutherford) at 704-583-0845 or bafrye@carolina.rr.com.

*  To submit a poem or short story for publication on our website, please click on the Express Yourself! page at the top of this page for submission requirements. We want to hear from you!

*  In June, Jim Pitts, President of NAMI NC and the NAMI Western Carolina Board of Director presented the Rowe Award to Nancy Carey, a 28-year advocate for mental health services in Western Carolina, in particular Yancey County. She has been a strong NAMI member, a member of the executive board of Western Highlands Network, the Consumer and Family Advisory Council and many other boards and committees all in the interest of helping those in need of mental health services. Congratulations, Nancy, and thank you for all of your years of hard work. The Rowe Award is given annually in honor of Florence Rowe and the late John Rowe, both long-time members of NAMI.

Please go to the Calendar page for a complete schedule of support groups and meetings.

* Emergency numbers:

 North Carolina Voice on Mental Illness Helpline – 1-800-451-9682 Monday – Friday 830 am – 5 pm. After hours email: mail@naminc.org.

Suicide Helpline – 1-800-273-TALK (8255) – 24 hours/7 days

NAMI Four Seasons in Hendersonville and NAMI Rutherford, affiliates of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, will sponsor a free 12-week Family-to-Family class for families of individuals diagnosed with a severe mental illness beginning September 13 in Hendersonville and September 16 in Forest City. This class that helps caregivers understand and support people with serious mental illness while maintaining their own well-being.

Up-to-date facts about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders and co-occurring addictions help caregivers understand and support people with a serious mental illness. Trained family members teach the course. NAMI Family-to-Family includes coping skills, handling a crisis and relapse, communication techniques, problem solving, rehabilitation, community resources, advocacy, and fighting discrimination and stigma.

NAMI-Four Seasons – Henderson County – Classes will be held at the Pardee Education Center, Blue Ridge Mall, Hendersonville, from 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm.  Early registration is required. Please contact Nancy Moreland at 828-696-4896 or Adrienne Brady at 828-685-8620 for more information.

NAMI Rutherford will offer Family-to-Family beginning Thursday, September 16, 2010 from 6:30 – 9:00 p.m. at 668 Withrow Road in Forest City. Registration is required. Please contact Betty Frye at 704-583-0845 or at bafrye@carolina.rr.com.

We did it!  Thanks to all of our volunteers, participants, and contributors, our first annual NAMIWALKS IN ASHEVILLE, organized and hosted by NAMI-Western Carolina, hit a home run!  We were lucky to have a beautiful, sunny, breezy day at Carrier Park.  More than 105 (still counting) Walkers and scores of others donated to this Walk which was held in tandem with the 6th Annual Walk in Raleigh.  It truly surpassed our expectations and we want to thank all of you for being part of it!  You made it happen.

State Senator Martin Nesbitt was our honorary chairman.  Sheriff Van Duncan spoke about the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) here in Buncombe County and the officers trained specifically to work with emergency calls involving consumers with a mental health diagnosis.  He pointed out that NAMI-WC member, Mona Cornwell, was instrumental in bringing this program to Western Carolina.  Arthur Carder, CEO of Western Highlands Network, spoke of the difficulties of providing services in the face of drastic budget cuts in North Carolina, but he also spoke of the hard work that is going on in our area to find ways to fill in these service gaps.  (Please contact our state legislators and advocate for the return of funds to the mental health budget).  Andrea Morris, a great WALKS advocate at Western Highlands, spoke of efforts to keep programs running and of the cooperation of diverse agencies to expand the services that are ongoing. 

Huge THANK YOU’s to all of those local businesses who helped us to make this first Walk such a great experience and success.  Mission Hospital, CooperRiis, and Best Friends Cemetery and Crematory generously supported us as Sponsors.  Mary McGahran, graphic designer at Mercury Creative Group, contributed considerable time and talent to design our poster and flyers.  THANK YOU to Laurey’s Catering, the Spice and Tea Exchange of Asheville, Sugar Momma’s Cookies, the Grove Park Inn, Asheville artist Jennifer Barrineau of Tree Gallery & Gifts, the Gaidi-Schunk family, Bone-A-Fide Bakery in Black Mountain, The Detail Shop in Black Mountain, One Mind Mental Illness Ministry of Mills River, Marnie Davis, and our NAMI-Western Carolina affiliate for donating gifts for the silent auction and raffle. Our appreciation also goes out to Richard Sackett and Roberta Greenspan for providing the music, and to Jeff and Susan at Kohl’s Department Store for providing us with five enthusiastic, hardworking volunteers and a grant to help us with NAMI BASICS, our educational program for parents of children with a mental illness.  A great day of fun with a purpose by the French Broad River!  Bake sale, information tables, t-shirts, balloons. It all worked!

WLOS-TV sent a cameraman and told the story of our Walk on the evening news.  We hope to add the clip to this website.  We also hope to add a video by Chip Leslie that was filmed especially for us.  Chip came in at the last minute and really covered the crowd. Puppies included!

We are so grateful to all of you who contributed your time and enthusiasm to this Walk.  You did it in so many ways and you did it so well!  This could never have happened without you, and the money raised will benefit all of us by helping NAMI-WC to continue and to expand programs.  Our increased visibility will bring more attention to the needs of the mental health community and help us in partnering with other organizations who share the same mission – to support, educate, advocate, and serve those with a mental illness and their caregivers.

On Saturday, May 1, 2010, we all came out to BEAT THE STIGMA! To CHANGE MINDS - ONE STEP AT A TIME!  People from NAMI-WC, NAMI-Four Seasons, NAMI-Boone, NAMI-Polk, Western Highlands Network, Western Alliance – Center for Independent Living, the Mental Health Association, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department. the Sixth Avenue Clubhouse, Copestone, and individuals who just wanted to speak out — all helped to make this a day to remember. THANK YOU!  LET’S DO IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR!

Donations to NAMIWALKS will be accepted through June 30, 2010. If you wish to donate, please send your check made out to “Nami-WC Walks” to P.O. Box 8046, Asheville, NC 28814. Donations to NAMIWALKS will be shared 50-50 with NAMI-North Carolina.

Thanks to a donation from Charlotte Street Computers we now have a computer with Internet connection for the use of consumers and family members who wish to check email or do research on volunteer jobs, paying jobs or topics related to mental health. Time will be limited to one hour. NEW! If you would like to learn the basics of the Internet, Google and email, free one-on-one lessons will be available beginning in May on Thursday afternoons between 1 and 4 pm. Classes will be one hour in length. You must book in advance. Get over your fear of computers! It’s fun and easy. Call 505-7353 to reserve a computer or to book a class.

Our video room has also opened. We have videos on mental health as well as the film “Canvas”. To reserve a time or if you have any appropriate videos that you would like to donate, please call our office. OR just want to get out of the house? Stop by a video rental store and bring your video to watch at our office. Bring your own popcorn!

A book and VHS/DVD checkout library is also available for NAMI members. Just come in and sign out your choices. Books and videos may be checked out for one month.

Please contact us if  you would care to donate books or to make a donation specifically to purchase books for the  library.

The Veterans Connection Recovery Support Group formerly held each Thursday evening from 7:30 – 9:00 pm at the Charles George VA Medical Center has been cancelled. For information, contact Charles at wooten49@charter.net or call our office at 828-505-7353. Veterans are invited to attend our weekly Support Group meetings at MountainHouse and 356 Biltmore Avenue, Suite 298. Please see the Calendar page for the complete schedule.