HC joining 8 other counties in creating NAMI chapter

Henry County is joining the southeast Iowa National Alliance on Mental Illness chapter to serve as a support group for people affected by mental illness and to educate the community.

While Henry County had a NAMI chapter in the early 1990s, the chapter didn't have enough funding to stay afloat and became the informal support group Helping Hands, said Lisa Kongable, NAMI member, Optimae LifeServices nurse practitioner and IW nursing professor.

Now eight counties are combining resources to create a southeast Iowa NAMI chapter with Henry, Washington, Des Moines, Lee, Van Buren, Keokuk, Jefferson and Louisa counties.

'NAMI is a wonderful resource and I am glad we are trying to get it revived for this area,” Kongable said. 'It teaches basic mental health first aid.”

Four NAMI members in Mt. Pleasant met Monday, Dec. 4, at First United Methodist Church to choose two members to sit on the eight-county governing board and discuss support group meetings. The meeting was open to the public.

NAMI member Gladys Movall and Kongable volunteered for the governing board positions, with the understanding that once the chapter is established other NAMI members can be on the governing board as well.

Governing board meetings will be based in Mt. Pleasant and will be four times a year, Movall said. The first governing board meeting is Jan. 5.

Once NAMI is formally structured, counties will begin holding support group meetings and providing educational resources to the public.

The goal of NAMI is to develop community support, advocate and provide resources for people with or families affected by mental illnesses. It is open to people living with mental illness, family members, mental health professionals and the general public who want more education surrounding mental illness.

While there is a cost for NAMI membership, there is no cost to attend a support group, which Kongable hopes meets one to two times a month. The first support group meeting will be in the spring of 2019.

Angie Goodpaster, a NAMI member, said it feels like a 'firecracker” going off when she talks about her life experience with mental illness. It makes her feel good to care and give back to other people by sharing her story, she said.

'Stigma-busting is a big goal and objective and mission of NAMI,” Kongable added.

Movall, who has a child diagnosed with mental illness and has ADHD herself, said that NAMI is something needed in the community since the Mt. Pleasant Mental Health Institute closed in 2015.

'NAMI teaches people not to fear but to understand mental illness,” Movall said.

There is a mental health crisis in southeast Iowa and across the U.S. and there are inadequate resources to serve people affected by mental illness, Movall said.

The Henry County Health Center does not have acute beds for psychiatric patients and the emergency room is not equipped to handle patients in mental health crisis,' Kongable said.

At Optimae, Kongable said there is a waiting list to see a therapist a month and a half out.

'As a nurse practitioner, I'm overloaded with cases. We have a shortage of mental health professionals,” Kongable said.

The next meeting to discuss NAMI in Henry County is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 14 at 6 p.m. at First United Methodist Church.

For more information, contact Lisa Kongable at Optimae at 319-385-8051 or Gladys Movall at 319-385-2037.