DAVENPORT -
NAMI-Walks 2018 is getting ready for an important journey. It's a family friendly 5K walk coming up on Saturday, September 22, 2018, at Modern Woodmen Park.
"We're advocating for better services for our family members and their loved ones," said Vicki Walters, a NAMI coordinator in Davenport.
It's always a big fundraiser for the group (National Alliance on Mental Health), and proceeds provide free education and support programs. It fills the information gap for families dealing with mental illness.
"We have a lot of families that are in that emotional stage or acceptance stage to want to take our programs, so they join us at our yearly walk," she said.
Reasons why NAMI is Necker's Gift of Giving in July. A portion of July sales at Necker's will benefit NAMI Greater Mississippi Valley.
To participate, check https://www.namigmv.org.
Walters, who coordinates support and education programs, finds the latest challenge is reaching out to military families.
"We can kind of get our loved ones away from the isolation," she said.
While NAMI doesn't provide counseling or function as an agency, it helps families to create an effective support network. All of the programs are free to participants.
"They're not alone," Walters said. "There's other folks out there dealing with the same issues that none of us want to talk about," she said.
Since NAMI receives no national or state funding, the walk will be even more important. All money stays local to help break barriers.
"It's that stigma of the mental health disorder," she concluded.
But stepping up soon for support and recovery in the Quad Cities.
