NAMI Colorado Springs creates and cultivates a welcoming community of peers who educate, support and advocate for people and families navigating mental health conditions. We offer no-cost education programs and support groups in both in-person and virtual settings; train and present to audiences ranging from middle school students to police officers; and deliver resource and referral services 9 to 5, weekdays. With volunteers and partners, we fight stigma and champion recovery.
Mental illness can be found near the core of the most entrenched issues in our society, including homelessness, mass incarceration, substance use and suicide. We believe that improving mental health — and access to resources — is key to making progress on any of these fronts. And from experience, we know that people and families who successfully manage mental health issues can experience full, dynamic lives.
With some support groups attracting up to 25 people weekly, NAMI hopes to train and support more volunteer facilitators and offer more groups to meet growing needs. We also seek to develop consistent programming for Spanish speakers.
In our Family-to-Family program last year, 100 percent of students who completed an end-of-course evaluation strongly agreed with the statement, “I would recommend the course to others.”
“Seeing that others have worked through their mental illnesses makes me feel hopeful for my own future journey.” — “In Our Own Voice” audience member