Help and hope: NAMI Shelby provides classes, education for those affected by mental illness

In Shelby County, a nonprofit organization exists that is solely dedicated to helping people who are affected by mental illness, along with those who care for them.

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.

NAMI Shelby is the local chapter and their mission is to provide support, education and advocacy for persons with mental illnesses, their families and others whose lives are affected by brain disorders.

One of 500 local NAMI affiliates throughout the country, NAMI Shelby works in communities to raise awareness and provide support and education not previously available to those in need. Led by volunteers, all of the services NAMI Shelby offers are free and the nonprofit is funded by memberships, donations and money from fundraising events.

“To me, that’s huge,” said Anna Noyes, president of NAMI Shelby. “These are people who are passionate and care enough to step up and try to make a difference.”

Noyes said there is a stigma that stands between individuals with mental illness and their acceptance as valued members of society, and NAMI’s free educational programs are there to help.

NAMI Shelby broke off from NAMI Birmingham around 2009. Many people were driving from Shelby County to downtown to attend support group meetings, so it made sense to create an affiliate in Shelby County.

NAMI Shelby is made up of nine active board members and 42 active members. The nonprofit doesn’t have an office, but all their meetings are held at Shelby Baptist Physicians Center.

Noyes said that most of the people serving on the board have a story on how they got involved and stayed involved. She became involved with NAMI about seven years ago after becoming her mother’s primary caregiver.

Growing up, Noyes said she knew her mother had a mental illness (schizoaffective disorder), but it wasn’t until she was a sophomore in high school that she found out the truth of what was going on.

“That's when things changed,” Noyes said. “There were a lot of things that I wasn't aware of growing up because I was kept from them. It’s a lot to deal with. I felt extremely overwhelmed so I had asked my mom’s therapist if there were any support groups or any educational material I could get my hands on and learn more. I thought if I could gain a better understanding of what was going on, then maybe I could help my mom.”

The doctor recommended Noyes connect with NAMI Shelby. She attended a family to family class and said it was life changing. She was able to connect with others going through similar experiences and no longer felt alone.

After attending the 12-week class, Noyes wanted to give back to NAMI Shelby, so she held a silent auction at her work to raise money, then later put together a mental health fun fair and helped chair that committee for two years. She served on the board for several years and became president in February 2022.

Ron Stone has been involved with NAMI Shelby for four years and serves on the board.

He said he has a personal interest in individuals who have mental illness disorders and knows they are not getting the help and support they need.

“They’re the ones that lose out because of it, along with their family members and loved ones who are trying to help them,” Stone said. “I got involved to do something about it and have been heavily involved for two years conducting support sessions for family members.

Stone said he, along with several others on the NAMI Shelby board, is involved in creating a strategic plan for NAMI Alabama and the most important part is identifying the issues in Alabama, and in his case, in Shelby County particularly.

He said the key objectives are trying to determine what's wrong with the mental health care system in Alabama, providing care and support for those who need it and get them on the road to contributing to society.

“What I hope to do in my role is try to identify what the issues are, who the players are that can help solve them and approach those and come up with solutions,” Stone said. “The state of Alabama does not have enough mental health care facilities, workers, psychiatrists. A lot of professionals have left this state and are leaving the state to get more money in other states.”

Stone said Alabama is also lacking in facilities. He said the hardest part is to get a message to the right people who can put solutions in action.

“We have to get the message to commissioners, county managers and city councils and convince them of the problem in their city or county, and that they need to be part of a solution by helping us engage with state legislators to get the message across to them and listen and take action,” he said.

Cody Sumners is a lieutenant with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. He has been involved with the program for a number of years and began serving on the NAMI Shelby board in January 2022.

Noyes said that he has been a huge resource and was heavily involved in the development of a crisis intervention program.

In 2005, Sumners completed a week-long crisis intervention training for law enforcement. Five years later, his mother-in-law committed suicide. He wanted to make sure that the other officers at the department knew about local resources to share with family members who are in similar situations.

“I made a proposal that the sheriff’s office begin offering mental health training,” he said. “When Sheriff Samaniego took office and Judge Allison Boyd was appointed as mental health coordinator for the probate court, I was the liaison between the two and shortly after I was moved to the administrative division, we began offering the crisis intervention training class and made them Shelby County specific and just about every employee in the jail and on patrol has been through it.”

For that program, Sumners worked with NAMI to approve the lesson plan and has kept in touch with them ever since.

“As law enforcement, we need to be working hand in hand with them, as we are the first call most people [dealing with a mental illness crisis] make,” he said.

Sumners also serves as a co-chair of the NAMI Shelby advocacy committee, and he and board member Joan Elder recently went to Montgomery to speak with Alabama Department of Mental Health Commissioner Kim Boswell.

“We went in there knowing the answer to most of the questions was going to be [lack of] money, and it is,” Sumners said. “You have to have funding to have more beds and increase pay for providers, and when it comes down to money, it’s just not there in Alabama for mental health.”

He added that the pay scale for mental health workers in Alabama is not as competitive as it is in surrounding states. Even after obtaining a masters in counseling, the pay is less than a teacher's salary.

Meetings and classes

While the majority of those who attend NAMI Shelby meetings live in Shelby County, Noyes said there are people who travel from surrounding counties, as the group is open to anyone regardless of where they live. Zoom meetings are also offered, which are open for anyone to attend.

“There are no restrictions depending on where people live, it’s more about finding an affiliate as close to you as you can,” Noyes said. “There’s one in Huntsville, Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery and Mobile and each affiliate offers similar programs.”

► Family Support Group: for families of those dealing with mental illness. The peer-led support group is for family, partners and friends of individuals with mental illness, where participants can talk frankly about their challenges and help one another with their experience.

► Connections Support Group: a monthly recovery support group for people living with mental illness, where people learn from one another’s experiences, share coping strategies and offer mutual encouragement and understanding. All groups are facilitated by peers living in recovery.

► Family-to-Family class: An eight-session educational class for families, partners and friends of individuals with mental illness. The course is designed to facilitate a better understanding of mental illness, increase coping skills and empower participants to become advocates for their family members. The next session begins Sept. 12 and will be held on Monday evenings at 6 p.m. at Shelby Baptist Physician’s Center.

► NAMI Basics: A six-week class for parents and other family caregivers of children and adolescents who have either been diagnosed with a mental health condition or who are experiencing symptoms but have not yet been diagnosed.

► NAMI Ending the Silence: a presentation given to middle and high school students, staff and families an opportunity to learn about mental illness, symptoms and indicators and how to help those in need of support.

► NAMI In Our Own Voice: a public education presentation that offers insight into the hope and recovery possible for people living with mental illness. Trained individuals living with mental illness lead a brief, yet comprehensive and interactive presentation about mental illness.

► NAMI Parents and Teachers As Allies: a two-hour, in-service program that helps school professionals better understand the early warning signs of emotional and behavioral difficulties in children and adolescents and how to best intervene so that youth with mental health treatment needs are linked with services.

Sumners said the classes are invaluable to those who love someone with a mental illness and being able to sit down with others in a similar situation helps them realize they are not alone.

Noyes said NAMI Shelby is currently in the process of developing a support and dedication committee and have asked for a number of people within the school system or who have a connection with education mental health in order to become involved and help understand where the gaps are for young people.

“Normally NAMI is for those 18 and older, but there’s a lot going on that needs to be addressed, especially what are the gaps and how can we fill those gaps?” Noyes said. “I feel like progress is being made, but feel there’s still a long way to go.”