It's Mental Illness Awareness Week! Who knew?!

The first full week in October is Mental Illness Awareness Week. Established by our Congress in 1990, this week sheds light on the efforts of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Otherwise known as NAMI, each state organization is encouraged to step up their efforts to achieve the NAMI mission which is to improve the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness.

I will have to be honest here and say that I did not have this even marked down on my calendar. However, that is not to say that I will not finish this post and add it to my planner pages so that I can remember it when I make my annual agenda information transfer at the end of the year.

NAMI has a number of options for you in order to help them achieve their mission:

• If you are a political person, NAMI has non-partisan election themes that can be found here: Election

• If you are religious, this Thursday is the National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness Recovery

• If you aren't political or religious you can still bring awareness to the cause. NAMI offers various downloads on their site offering activities and PR.

• A documentary has also been filmed and will air on PBS stations. "Unlisted: A Story of Schizophrenia" was aired at the 2010 NAMI convention, and is currently being used to educate its viewers on the subject.

So what does all of this actually do for you? My goal is to introduce you to an organization and a cause that is becoming more and more popular in our society as the years go by. An article by DJ Jaffe discusses the issue of stigma as it relates to mental illness. The article is more of food for thought to coincide with this week. It can be found here: MIAW Diverts Attention from Serious Mental Illness

I encourage you to read it and at least think about the stigmas you have, if any, about mental illness. Where do they stem from? What limits you from educating yourself about the topic? What barriers are there in your environment to further your feelings about mental illness? How has the incidence of mental illness in your personal life impacted the way you feel about diagnosed individuals?

Resources:

NAMI

MIAW

Unlisted: A Story of Schizophrenia