Dear Membership and Community Members,
What has the last year brought? So much!
March 2020, Washington state shut down for what we thought would be a couple of weeks. Here we are in Fall of 2021 and though not entirely shut down, people are still with reduced services. We are proud that NAMI SW Washington has kept on helping people throughout the entire time. Many non-profit organizations and government entities have been and, in many cases, still are working from home, the NAMI SW Washington staff has continued to come into the office to answer phones and be here for the people that need us.
We’ve started additional support groups for dual diagnosis, parents of youth affected by mental health challenges, and adults living with Autism. We’ve added 10 new STRive modules. We launched a new website for youth living with parents dealing with mental health challenges; it’s called YouTalk.
We’ve changed Customer Relationship Management software, signed up for a non-profit Google Ad grant, and found new ways to reach people since all in person outreach was put on hiatus. We had to reimagine how we do things, stretch in ways we would have never imagined and discovered that we’re much stronger than we thought.
View the 2020 Annual Report, September 2020
Dear Membership and Community Members,
NAMI Southwest Washington is dedicated to supporting all people affected by mental illness through support, education, advocacy, and bringing awareness to our community.
We aim to collaborate with others, work smarter and not harder, and bring awareness to organizations, companies, and community groups throughout Southwest Washington.
In Southwest Washington, we are needed more than ever. During the COVID-19 pandemic (and into the future), we were the first NAMI Affiliate to get all our support groups and signature classes online. We now meet virtually and have reached people not just in Southwest Washington, but all over the United States and Canada.
We were mentioned in the NAMI National Convention for our speedy dive into the virtual world and reaching those affected by mental health challenges who normally would not be able to attend in-person groups. We also were included in the setting up and policy making for NAMI Washington’s Zoom licenses that were made available to all NAMI WA Affiliates who otherwise would not be able to afford them.