NAMI Club is here for you
October 30, 2019
The National Alliance for Mental Illness Club exists on campus for one driving purpose: to break the stigma around mental illness. “Our goal is also to let people know if they have a mental illness it’s ok to get help and talk to people about it,” said senior and Vice President of NAMI, Kennedy Urcelay.
The club meets twice a month in AP Psychology teacher James Hrzina’s classroom, and has over 100 members. The lime green-clad club plans to have one activity per month to raise more awareness about various mental illnesses. Urcelay said that “the club is not only to promote awareness around the campus but also the community,” encouraging togetherness and communication.
Last year the NAMI club asked everyone in homeroom to write what they were thankful for on a bright green sticky note. Within a week, our gratuities formed a beautiful and uplifting piece of art. Lime green flashed brightly on the wall of the gym, spelling out “gratitude” and “SDA” like a glowing crossword of wholesomeness.
Some of the ways the officers said that to de-stigmatize is to change the tone when talking about mental illness and explaining that it’s not a person’s fault for mental illness.
“I know a lot of people with mental illnesses, and I wanted to do something to help with it,” said Urcelay. And you can too.
Contributions by Griffin Beckman