Welcome to NAMI Santa Clara County

NAMI Santa Clara County is one of the largest Bay Area NAMI affiliates of the the NAMI California and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). We offer practical experience, support, education, comfort and understanding to anyone concerned about mental illnesses (primarily schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, clinical depression and OCD) and their treatment of services in Santa Clara County.

In addition, we work with public organizations, private businesses and the media to increase organizational and personal knowledge of effective ways to deal with the illnesses while advocating for increased research and improved services for individuals with mental illness.

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General Meeting

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
"Research on the Causes and Treatments for Major Depression"
Speaker: Dr.Owen Wolkowitz—University of San Francisco
Where: Good Samaritan Hospital Auditorium
2425 Samaritan Drive, San Jose.
Time: 7:30pm

More...

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Executive Director, Part-time

The National Alliance on Mental Illness Santa Clara County (NAMI SCC) is the largest Bay Area affiliate of NAMI, a nationwide non-profit which offers support, education, and advocacy for individuals with serious mental illness and their families. As a grassroots organization, NAMI SCC accomplishes much with our large and growing number of volunteers. It is now time for us to have paid professional management. Initially our Executive Director will work 50% time. The Board of Directors will continue to be a strong working Board with members typically volunteering 10 to 40 hours each week on important NAMI activities. Currently our annual budget is approximately $200,000. For more information about NAMI visit www.namisantaclara.org, www.namicalifornia.org, and www.nami.org.

NAMI SCC seeks a visionary and outcomes-oriented Executive Director capable of leading the organization as we pursue our goal to increase and improve our service to those with mental illness and their families. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in advocacy and community development. Candidates must have strong financial management skills and a track record in raising funds from foundations, corporations, government agencies, and individual donors. The candidate should be an experienced consensus builder and collaborator able to develop and clearly articulate goals and policies to the public and elected officials.

Our new Executive Director will use a combination of fund raising skills, management experience, and leadership ability to support our large group of dedicated volunteers and contract employees in achieving our mission. Our Executive Director will have the passion to lead the community to profoundly reject the injustices related to severe mental illness. The compensation will be in line with similar non-profit organizations. We invite you, or someone you know who might be interested, to email John Mitchem, Board President, at mitchem@pacbell.net.

Job Description

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NAMI SCC Volunteers Win Major Awards in 2008

Long-time NAMI Santa Clara County activists Luisa Perez and Sharon Roth won major recognition in 2008 for their wonderful contributions on behalf of those with serious mental illness and their families.

April was the lucky month. On the 25th Sharon won both a Crystal Bowl Award and the Silver Bowl Award at the annual Volunteer Recognition Luncheon of the Junior League of San Jose. Two days later, Luisa was named the Bay Area's Jefferson Award Winner for the week of April 27.

Sharon Roth, formerly President of NAMI SCC, was named in January as one of 15 Crystal Bowl winners from 140 individuals nominated for their outstanding volunteer work in Santa Clara County. Then during the final minutes of the April 25th luncheon, Sharon was announced as the winner of the grand prize, the Silver Bowl Award, the Junior League's highest honor for "volunteerism at its best". She was honored for her work in bringing the Crisis Intervention Team training for police officers to San Jose and hence to California and for her continuing work for more than a decade to expand CIT to other parts of California. Along with Sharon winning real silver and crystal bowls, NAMI SCC received a $1,000 donation in honor of Sharon from the Fertility Physicians of Northern California.

Luisa Perez, longtime NAMI Spanish Outreach activist and NAMI SCC Vice President, was honored by KCBS radio 740, KCBS TV Channel 5, and the San Francisco Chronicle as a Northern California resident who is doing "extraordinary things without expectation of recognition or reward. Luisa's wonderful contributions to our community were featured in a nice article in the Chronicle, as well as in a 3-minute segment on Channel 5 News and on KCBS radio. Both segments were repeated several times during the week.

Luisa won a second major award later in the year. On June 16 at the NAMI National Convention in Orlando, Florida, she was awarded NAMI National's Multicultural Outreach Award. This award is given to recognize outstanding leadership efforts to ensure that ethnic and other minorities are strong and vital members of the NAMI family. The NAMI National Board was particularly impressed with Luisa's efforts to reach out to the monolingual Latino community of Northern California, including teaching Family-to-Family classes, hosting support groups, and recruiting other Spanish speakers to take leadership roles in NAMI Santa Clara County.

Congratulations Luisa Perez and Sharon Roth! We are all honored to be your NAMI colleagues!

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NAMI Launches Veterans Resource Center

Recently, NAMI National launched its Veterans Resource Center, www.nami.org/veterans, an online portal to mental health resources for America's veterans, active duty service members, and their families. Many of our veterans who are returning home from active duty face a second war at home, confronting profound mental health problems that challenge their lives and the lives of their families.

Consider these statistics:

• Almost 1 in 3 veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq confront mental health problems.
• In 2006, the suicide rate in the Army reached its highest level in 26 years.
• Approximately 30% of veterans treated in the Veterans health system suffer from depressive systems, two to three times the rate of the general population.
• More Vietnam veterans have now died from suicide than were killed directly during the war in the 1960s and 70s.
• Approximately 40% of homeless veterans have mental illnesses. Approximately 57% of this group are African American or Hispanic veterans.

In an effort to respond to these issues, NAMI's Veterans Resource Center features a growing compilation of fact sheets, self-help information, online discussion groups, research and policy updates, and links to government agencies and other private organizations. NAMI has made the Center a priority to meet the growing need.

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MY FAMILY MEMBER HAS BEEN ARRESTED—WHAT DO I DO?

Despite the good efforts of CIT trained police officers, sometimes our family member's illness causes behavior that leads to arrest. NAMI SCC has an up-to-date guide to assist families when a loved one who suffers from a biological brain disorder is in the Santa Clara County criminal justice system.

Read the guide.

Inmate medication form.

Public Defender.

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Read all about it at www.nami.org.

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DONATE Your Vehicle to NAMI Santa Clara

More details available here. Or go straight to the donation form.