NAMI News

As the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) began its national convention today, with more than 2,000 members arriving, the NAMI Policy Research Institute (NPRI) unveiled plans for a state monitoring project to compile comprehensive data to create a new baseline by which to monitor the quality and progress of the nation's mental healthcare systems.

More than 2,000 people are attending the 23rd annual convention of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), in-cluding leaders from Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, as well as national, state and local experts.

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) has presented one of three annual In Our Own Voice: Living with Mental Illness awards to NAMI Western Riverside County for successfully and creatively implementing a national program that significantly involves people with mental illnesses (consumers) within the organization, training them to deliver messages of hope and recovery to public audiences.

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), the nation's largest organization dedicated to improving life for people with severe mental illnesses and their families, today announced a landmark Global Partnership Initiative (GPI) pairing four NAMI state organizations with similar advocacy groups on three continents-in Brazil, Japan, South Africa and Taiwan.

Max Schneier, J.D., 85, a founding member of NAMI, died this week at his home in Florida after a brief illness. Mr. Schneier was well-known nationally and internationally as a leading advocate for persons with mental illnesses. 

During NAMI's annual convention in Cincinnati, the movie "A Beautiful Mind" will receive perhaps the highest honor of all: a special award from people who themselves have struggled with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, for the year's "Greatest Contribution to Public Understanding of Mental Illness."

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) today announced its annual Outstanding Media Awards for fair, accurate, and sensitive reporting editorials and features about mental illness that have contributed to public support for improvement of the nation's mental health care system.

Funeral services will be held Friday, June 14th at 2:00 p.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church, 3240 "O" Street in Georgetown in Washington, D.C. for Richard Jed Wyatt, former chief of NIMH's Neuropsychiatry Branch and a long-time friend of NAMI, who died June 7th, after a long illness.

On Thursday, June 6 more than 2,000 supporters of mental health parity gathered in Washington, D.C. to urge Congress to act to end insurance discrimination against individuals with mental illness and their families.

There are literally tens of thousands of people with mental illnesses in this country who lead highly productive lives and many more who could if they had access to treatment through adequate insurance coverage.