NAMI News

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) today announced the appointment of Steven Buck as Director of State Relations of the nation’s largest grassroots advocacy organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and adults living with mental illnesses. Buck, currently Deputy Director of State Relations, starts in his new position immediately. Read More.

For children and teenagers with mental illnesses, the greatest risk may be to do nothing, NAMI National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) warned today, in releasing a report on "Children and Psychotropic Medications." Read More.

The report will provide important perspectives on the need for sound clinical practice and giving parents information to make decisions in the best interests of their children: which goes to the heart of any news story on children and psychiatric medications. Read More.

NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) today announced creation of a Multicultural Action Center (MAC) in conjunction with a national forum offering multicultural perspectives on President Bush’s New Freedom Commission Report. Read More.

Carol Carothers, executive director of NAMI Maine, who led Maine’s initiative to prevent inappropriate incarceration and improve treatment of people with mental illnesses has been awarded $120,000 and the nation’s highest honor for community health leadership. Read More.

NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) will honor 16 physicians with “Exemplary Psychiatrists Awards” at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) annual meeting in New York City. Read More.

Linda Champion of Montgomery, Alabama testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee today that findings by the U.S. Surgeon General and President Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health on the fragmentation of the nation’s mental health care system and burden of suffering on families of children with mental illnesses are "frankly, an understatement." Read More.

Tens of thousands of Americans will take to the streets beginning this weekend, May 1-2, to raise public awareness that recovery from mental illnesses is possible. Read More.

A recent upsurge in people with mental illness seeking treatment in emergency departments is taking a significant toll on patient care and hospital resources nationwide, according to a new survey of emergency physicians conducted by the nation’s leading mental health organizations and the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Two of the most important but often unexplored stories about failures in the mental health care system are the shift in costs to other sectors of society—and the degree to which mental illnesses represent a dimension of broader problems in American society, such as unemployment. Read More.