If you’re in crisis, get immediate help: Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273- 8255, chat with trained counselors 24/7, or get help in other ways through the Lifeline. You can also contact the National Crisis Textline by texting HOME to 741741.
High Plains Mental Health Crisis Line can also be reached 24/7 at 1-800-432-0333
By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
NAMI Hays is reaching into rural areas and is expanding into NAMI Golden Plains.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness is a national grassroots organization that offers peer support and advocacy for people who suffer from mental illness. The organization also offers support for family members who have loved ones who have a mental illness diagnoses.
The NAMI Golden Plains now includes Ellis, Rush, Ness, Trego, Graham, Lane, Gove, Sheridan, Decatur, Norton, Phillips and Rooks counties.
NAMI Kansas is pushing to create more affiliates in the rural areas of the state, including northwest Kansas.
The affiliates are growing rapidly and Rooks, Phillips and Norton may soon break off with other northern counties to form a separate affiliate. Barton and Stafford counties are also working to establish affiliates.
Reaching more people through technology
The pandemic has allowed NAMI Hays to reach out to individuals in rural areas using technology.
NAMI Hays was down to only having a couple of attendees at in-person support group meetings in Hays. With the onset of the pandemic, support groups were forced to go online.
That opened up opportunities for people who could not attend in-person meetings because of distance and transportation issues to suddenly access services.
Today, NAMI Hays is back to meeting in person, but at any given meeting, it can also have attendees online from as far away as southern Nebraska or Topeka.
Grants from NAMI Kansas allowed the local chapter to purchase the video equipment necessary to host online support groups. The Robert E. and Patricia Schmidt Foundation also awarded NAMI Hays $20,000 in 2020 and again in 2021, which it has used to grow its programs.
NAMI hired a Hays peer development and volunteer specialist, Hunter Marcum, as well as a regional Kansas peer development and volunteer specialist, Art Summers, who are building community relationships and increasing awareness of NAMI's resources.
"NAMI Kansas invested in NAMI Hays to be a beacon of support for the entire western area of the state," Summers said.
He said although anyone can attend any NAMI group online, the goal is to also have groups in person in the growing number of affiliates across the state.
Peers helping peers
Marcum and Summers both have mental health diagnoses. Marcum suffers from anxiety disorder, and Summers has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, PTSD, addiction disorder and ADHD.
SEE RELATED PODCAST: Forward Ever:NAMI volunteer coordinator Art Summers
Marcum said NAMI has helped her be more in tune with her emotions.
"Being part of NAMI and being trained in the groups, I know that I'm not alone in my struggles, and now I'm able to advocate and help others."
Ann Leiker, executive director for the Center for Life Experience, which hosts the NAMI Hays program, said Marcum and Summers are the boots on the ground for what otherwise is a volunteer organization.
The peer specialists are able to meet with people one on one to discuss the NAMI programs and help them get plugged into those resources, Leiker said.
All support groups in NAMI are lead by trained volunteers who also have mental illness or, in the case of family classes and support groups, by family members who have loved ones with mental illness.
"It's peer-ran, that's the cool part of it," Summers said about the NAMI programs. "Nobody can teach a NAMI class or facilitate unless they are that person. It's just a safe place."
NAMI pays for volunteers to train to be group facilitators. Summers said NAMI Kansas is trying to grow the number of the facilitators, so it can plant and grow support groups in more communities.
Support groups<br>
NAMI Hays is involved in the community in many ways, but most people will plug in with the organization through two main classes and two main support groups.
All classes and support groups are free. All programs are confidential. All programing is structured around evidence-based models.
The Connections support group is for adults who suffer from mental illness. In Hays, it meets the first and third Mondays of the month from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Center for Life Experience, 103 C. E. 27th St., Hays (Oak Street Plaza). You can receive a link to join online by emailing Marcum at [email protected]. The next NAMI Connections groups in Hays will be Feb. 7 and Feb. 21.
The family support group meets on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Center for Life Experience. The next family support groups in Hays will be Feb. 9 and Feb. 23.
"It's important for the family members, so they can understand the person that they love," Marcum said.
Summers added "It is a lot of stuff family members don't have access to. It's a safe place for family members to talk about us.
"The most alienating things is when you think you're alone. Most family members think they're alone. Bringing a support group together with common suffering issues, just makes sense."
Leiker said some people who suffer from severe mental illness can't live on their own. The caregiver needs to understand why their loved one is behaving in such a way and how to respond to that, she said.
Classes
Peer to Peer is an eight-week class for adults who have a mental illness to learn coping and problem-solving skills, set goals and learn about community resources.
NAMI Kansas has set a goal to offer Peer to Peer ever five weeks in Kansas in 2022 in locations across the state. The classes will be offered as a hybrid of in-person and online. The in-person portion of the next Peer-to-Peer class will be offered from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays, starting Feb. 24 at High Plains Independence, 1200 Canterbury in Hays.
The Family-to-Family class is a 12-week class that helps people learn about mental health diagnoses, treatments, communicating with their loved ones and caregiver coping skills.
Need in rural Kansas
Corrina Hudsonpillar, who is on the NAMI Hays steering committee, said isolation and lack of services can be huge obstacles to recovery in rural areas.
"In a lot of these communities, they don't have therapists. They don't have professionals like that in their area. Sometimes they have none. Sometimes it's one day a week that someone will go to an office in some of these communities. There is just a real shortage."
Summers said he is encountering desire and need for services in many communities, but there isn't leadership. NAMI is able to offer the leadership and structure for those services, he said.
The pandemic is putting even more strain on individuals and families, and many local residents are additionally dealing with the recovery from wildfires, the NAMI members said.
Summers, who grew up on a farm, said the ability for a farmer or rancher to Zoom into a support group in privacy from a tractor or truck is invaluable.
Because the Zoom feature can be accessed most places, it can afford people who live in small communities privacy that they might not have if they had to park their truck in front of a mental health clinic, Summers said.
NAMI is in 47 states in the U.S. Individuals can search support groups and find other resources on the organization's national website or NAMI Kansas' state website.
Follow NAMI Hays on Facebook. You can also reach the NAMI through the Center for Life Experience at 785-259-6859.
Cover photo provided by Pixabay