Who We Are

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) is a nonprofit, grassroots mental health organization founded by families affected by mental illness, determined to fight stigma, and to create a system of recovery for individuals living with mental illness. We have worked in Black Hawk County since 1984.

 

Due to the stigma surrounding mental illness, many people with mental illness, their families, and partners may feel isolated from their community and be afraid to reach out for help. We provide advocacy, education, and mutual support for everyone affected by mental illness. We work for an improved quality of life for people with mental illness and elimination to the discrimination surrounding the disease.

 

Our History

In the late 1970s, two women met at the University of Wisconsin who were mothers of adult children with schizophrenia. They were looking for support as well as ways to improve the mental health system. They organized with others nationwide and created a new organization called "Alliance for the Mentally Ill" the acronym, AMI, means "friend" in French.

Board members of a state organization, The Iowa Schizophrenia Association, attended the first national conference of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill in Madison, Wisconsin in 1979. Since another company had copyrighted “AMI”, the national group became NAMI instead. The Iowa Schizophrenia Association board voted to change its name to "AMI of Iowa" and "Schizophrenia, Why Me?" which became incorporated in 1984 and was affiliated with both AMI of Iowa and NAMI, the national organization.

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Our organization became a 501c3 charitable organization in June 1986 and changed our name to "AMI of Black Hawk County." Reflecting further changes at the national level, in 2005 the agency became "NAMI Black Hawk County." The national organization furthered this effort by changing the acronym from standing for “National Alliance for the Mentally Ill” to “National Alliance on Mental Illness.”

 

What We Do

NAMI Black Hawk County’s free classes, educational presentations, and support groups provide a caring, supportive environment. Along with one staff member, who is a family member as well as a licensed social worker, the facilitators for our classes and support groups are trained volunteer family members or people in recovery who have lived experience with their illness.

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We promote understanding about mental illness so people are able to recognize it as biologically-based brain disease. Mental illness is more common than diabetes or heart disease; one in five U.S. adults experience mental illness each year and one in four families has a family member with mental illness. Mental illness is worsened by shame and guilt. The discrimination surrounding this disease erodes confidence that mental health diagnoses are real, treatable health conditions. We work to challenge negative attitudes and barriers to effective treatment and recovery.

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It is more important than ever to build a stronger mental health system that provides the care, services, and support needed to help people have better and healthier lives.