MONROE - A small group of people in Green County are determined to dispel the stigma that surrounds mental illness in an isolating cloud.
NAMI Green County may be short on bodies, but success in its recent fundraising will allow the nonprofit to work toward its goals for 2018, according to board secretary and treasurer Conni Bigler.
"The more that gets said, you know, the less stigma there is," she said. "People are afraid to - they're afraid to talk. I think it's getting better ... but we need them to know there are support groups for them and that we are there, and we're ready to help."
Bigler chooses her words carefully in referring to mental health disorders.
"Brain disorder, is what it is," she said after accidentally repeating a phrase she dislikes. "It's a disease, just like any other disease, which most people don't understand."
Her familiarity with mental illness is more acute than most: Her son, Trevor Moen, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 18. When he was on medication, things went "pretty good," Bigler said, but he struggled to hold down a job, which meant he didn't have insurance and couldn't afford medication. That cycle fed itself and contributed to his depression.
At 29, the New Glarus High School graduate "ended his life," Bigler said. Two years later, in 2009, she joined NAMI Green County, the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
"I just had no clue what mental illness really was," she said. "I thought you could take a magic pill and it would make you better, and you know, that's just not how it works. So, I wanted to get involved and became a member of the board then in 2009."
That was also the year NAMI Green County first put together a team to participate in NAMI Dane County's annual walk during Mental Illness Awareness Week in October.
2018 will be the team's 10th year participating in the walk, through which NAMI Green County has raised a total of more than $48,000, Bigler said. With an average of about 40 people participating on behalf of the local affiliate each year, half of the donations they raise go toward the Dane County affiliate and the other half goes to Green County.
The walk is NAMI Green County's only fundraiser.
"Our purpose is to educate, support those who have a mental illness - or their family members, because family members need a tremendous amount of support as well. So, educate, support and advocate," Bigler said, noting that some board members are "fierce and strong" in their advocacy by lobbying to legislators.
While NAMI headquarters are now located in Virginia, the advocacy group was founded in Madison in 1979. Green County's chapter opened around 2003, according to Joseph Phillipps, the board's vice president.
Phillipps is what's called a "consumer" of the organization - someone with a mental illness. After being diagnosed with schizoaffective bipolar disorder, he jumped into advocacy, beginning his work with NAMI in the early '80s.
"It's difficult" to live with bipolar, Phillipps said, explaining that it affects his mood, causes auditory hallucinations and contributes to anxiety. "So, I've been in treatment pretty much constantly from 1979 on."
As a consultant with NAMI for several years, he traveled the country talking about his experience and the benefits of "community treatment." He credits the advocacy group for funding research into how to treat mental illness, which has improved over the years.
Community treatment allows him to have a higher quality of life by letting him stay in the community he wants to be in, Phillipps said. He describes it as a multi-faceted approach that might take the form of help finding employment or housing, an advocate to accompany someone to a doctor's appointment, or help staying on medications. And it's cheaper for taxpayers than the criminal justice system, he added.
Part of the reason Phillipps has been involved with NAMI for so long is the feeling of not being alone anymore.
"Sometimes you're left out there in a void," he said. "The more that I'm involved, I realized there are a lot of people like me out there. A lot of people with mental illness are doing just fine."
NAMI helped shift Phillipps' perspective: "My illness is a part of me, but it isn't all of me. It's something that I deal with on a daily basis, but that isn't my main identification ... It doesn't define me as a person," he said. "I've learned there's hope."
With only about 20 members, including current and former board members, supporters and consumers, and no employees, the local nonprofit's reach is still fairly limited. Its main endeavor aside from the walk is a monthly support group for anyone affected by mental illness. The support group meets at 6:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at Aster Assisted Living of Monroe and usually draws from four to eight people, Phillipps said.
But Bigler sounds optimistic about the group's plans for the future.
"Within the last two years, we've really got our heads together on what we really want to accomplish," she said.
The organization's tentative budget for this year is $11,250, which, if all goes to plan, will fund community programs, training for law enforcement officers and a scholarship.
The board hopes to work with school districts to implement a program called Raise Your Voice, creating a support club for high school students, not specifically on mental health but also on other struggles teens face. Bigler said the group is trying to work with New Glarus schools, as well as Albany and Monticello.
She said they are offering stipends to the Green County Sheriff's Department and local police departments to participate in training on how to treat people with mental illness and learn what the problems are.
"It's very scary to have a mental illness, and then possibly get in trouble for something else," Bigler said.
Family to Family, another NAMI initiative, is a 12-week course on mental illness, Phillipps said. He emphasized the help and support NAMI offers to families of those with disorders.
Bigler said the nonprofit needs a volunteer to put together its newsletter as well as volunteers for a program that needs a student with a mental health disorder and a willing teacher.
To get involved with NAMI, call Green County Human Services at 608-328-9499, visit NAMI's website at www.namigreencounty.org or its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NamiGreenCountyInc. Donations can be mailed to P.O. Box 343, New Glarus, WI 53574.
NAMI Green County may be short on bodies, but success in its recent fundraising will allow the nonprofit to work toward its goals for 2018, according to board secretary and treasurer Conni Bigler.
"The more that gets said, you know, the less stigma there is," she said. "People are afraid to - they're afraid to talk. I think it's getting better ... but we need them to know there are support groups for them and that we are there, and we're ready to help."
Bigler chooses her words carefully in referring to mental health disorders.
"Brain disorder, is what it is," she said after accidentally repeating a phrase she dislikes. "It's a disease, just like any other disease, which most people don't understand."
Her familiarity with mental illness is more acute than most: Her son, Trevor Moen, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 18. When he was on medication, things went "pretty good," Bigler said, but he struggled to hold down a job, which meant he didn't have insurance and couldn't afford medication. That cycle fed itself and contributed to his depression.
At 29, the New Glarus High School graduate "ended his life," Bigler said. Two years later, in 2009, she joined NAMI Green County, the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
"I just had no clue what mental illness really was," she said. "I thought you could take a magic pill and it would make you better, and you know, that's just not how it works. So, I wanted to get involved and became a member of the board then in 2009."
That was also the year NAMI Green County first put together a team to participate in NAMI Dane County's annual walk during Mental Illness Awareness Week in October.
2018 will be the team's 10th year participating in the walk, through which NAMI Green County has raised a total of more than $48,000, Bigler said. With an average of about 40 people participating on behalf of the local affiliate each year, half of the donations they raise go toward the Dane County affiliate and the other half goes to Green County.
The walk is NAMI Green County's only fundraiser.
"Our purpose is to educate, support those who have a mental illness - or their family members, because family members need a tremendous amount of support as well. So, educate, support and advocate," Bigler said, noting that some board members are "fierce and strong" in their advocacy by lobbying to legislators.
While NAMI headquarters are now located in Virginia, the advocacy group was founded in Madison in 1979. Green County's chapter opened around 2003, according to Joseph Phillipps, the board's vice president.
Phillipps is what's called a "consumer" of the organization - someone with a mental illness. After being diagnosed with schizoaffective bipolar disorder, he jumped into advocacy, beginning his work with NAMI in the early '80s.
"It's difficult" to live with bipolar, Phillipps said, explaining that it affects his mood, causes auditory hallucinations and contributes to anxiety. "So, I've been in treatment pretty much constantly from 1979 on."
As a consultant with NAMI for several years, he traveled the country talking about his experience and the benefits of "community treatment." He credits the advocacy group for funding research into how to treat mental illness, which has improved over the years.
Community treatment allows him to have a higher quality of life by letting him stay in the community he wants to be in, Phillipps said. He describes it as a multi-faceted approach that might take the form of help finding employment or housing, an advocate to accompany someone to a doctor's appointment, or help staying on medications. And it's cheaper for taxpayers than the criminal justice system, he added.
Part of the reason Phillipps has been involved with NAMI for so long is the feeling of not being alone anymore.
"Sometimes you're left out there in a void," he said. "The more that I'm involved, I realized there are a lot of people like me out there. A lot of people with mental illness are doing just fine."
NAMI helped shift Phillipps' perspective: "My illness is a part of me, but it isn't all of me. It's something that I deal with on a daily basis, but that isn't my main identification ... It doesn't define me as a person," he said. "I've learned there's hope."
With only about 20 members, including current and former board members, supporters and consumers, and no employees, the local nonprofit's reach is still fairly limited. Its main endeavor aside from the walk is a monthly support group for anyone affected by mental illness. The support group meets at 6:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at Aster Assisted Living of Monroe and usually draws from four to eight people, Phillipps said.
But Bigler sounds optimistic about the group's plans for the future.
"Within the last two years, we've really got our heads together on what we really want to accomplish," she said.
The organization's tentative budget for this year is $11,250, which, if all goes to plan, will fund community programs, training for law enforcement officers and a scholarship.
The board hopes to work with school districts to implement a program called Raise Your Voice, creating a support club for high school students, not specifically on mental health but also on other struggles teens face. Bigler said the group is trying to work with New Glarus schools, as well as Albany and Monticello.
She said they are offering stipends to the Green County Sheriff's Department and local police departments to participate in training on how to treat people with mental illness and learn what the problems are.
"It's very scary to have a mental illness, and then possibly get in trouble for something else," Bigler said.
Family to Family, another NAMI initiative, is a 12-week course on mental illness, Phillipps said. He emphasized the help and support NAMI offers to families of those with disorders.
Bigler said the nonprofit needs a volunteer to put together its newsletter as well as volunteers for a program that needs a student with a mental health disorder and a willing teacher.
To get involved with NAMI, call Green County Human Services at 608-328-9499, visit NAMI's website at www.namigreencounty.org or its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NamiGreenCountyInc. Donations can be mailed to P.O. Box 343, New Glarus, WI 53574.