APRIL  EVENTS

What is NAMI?

NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.

Our goal at NAMI Idaho is to improve the quality of life for all those affected by mental illness through support, education, advocacy and research across the state. We assist our affiliates with educational programs, policy development, and training.

NAMI started as a small group of families gathered around a kitchen table in 1979 and has blossomed into the nation’s leading voice on mental health. Today, we are an alliance of more than 600 local Affiliates and 48 State Organizations who work in your community to raise awareness and provide support and education that was not previously available to those in need.

Board member highlight

Hi, I’m Victor Vosen. I discovered National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) after getting sick in 1997 while attending Macalester College in Twin Cities, Minnesota. It was during the Ides of March and I was 21 years old. When I became ill I lost everything. After 13 years I eventually graduated with a Bachelors of Art in Geology and Math from the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

I’m kinda of a natural scientist up here in the Panhandle with my dog Darwin and other pets. I got more involved with NAMI after leaving my therapist’s office in 2011. I thought that this group could be a pretty good place to go for support. I’d been struggling for years with my identity as somebody sick or crazy or normal. And through NAMI, I found my people, instead of a disney shrinkwrapped television version of people, and learned about other people’s situations and who I was as a person. And just like a broken arm or leg, you have to live with that for the rest of your life, but it heals right?

I continued to attend meetings and eventually a NAMI friend asked me to join the Board of Directors as a Consumer Advocate. And to explain that, everybody on our board has lived experience with Mental Illness. I, as a consumer advocate, am in recovery from said illness. I spend most of my time painting and working on science based projects. You can also find me out hiking and fishing all year round.

You can check out my art online at Instagram@alderartworks1 or Facebook@painting75. During the summers I work as a janitor cleaning up after other people, this job feeds my art habit. I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Everyone for supporting NAMI, because without an organization like what we have here in Sandpoint, I’d still be living in the dark.