April 28, 2020

Supporting our Communities While Sheltered at Home

We hope you are well and safe. We're proud to say we are still serving our community with virtual support groups, classes and by contributing to other online events! Please follow us on social media as we continue to add even more resources, and  check our COVID-19 page , which we are keeping updated with the latest news, information and resources, including mental health guidance. We also have a  family guide for parents and children  and a post on  ways to stay connected  while social-distancing guidelines are in place.

May marks Mental Health Month, and we will be posting questions to our members and followers on social media. During this difficult time, we will be using this as an opportunity to discuss what we are doing to stay mentally healthy. To begin with, we had a staff discussion about how music can soothe the soul (and heart and mind) and made a playlist of feel-good songs. Check it out and share what songs make YOU feel good.

Community Events

Janis Black Warner Speaker Series

Wednesday, May 6, 7 pm, with Dr. Eric Levander: “How to Cope with Your Emotions and What You Can Expect From Yourself” during this unprecedented time of isolation and separation. Dr. Levander is an esteemed psychiatrist serving West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Beverly Hills and has been on staff at UCLA. Find out more and get the link to join the Zoom event . (Don’t know Zoom? We have links to learn more, including  a video to explain how to join a meeting .)

320 Festival We are excited to be working with USC and the 320 Festival team. Join us online for  320 Festival’s online event   May 8 to 10 to help end stigma and support those with mental health conditions. We’re thrilled to be a community partner and to have both our Executive Director, Erin Raftery Ryan, and Outreach/Operations Coordinator, Elizabeth Stephens, representing our affiliate as panelists. For more details, visit the  320 Festival website.

Thanks to board member and Tone It Up co-founder Karena Dawn for helping to raise awareness and funds for our work during an Amazon Live event. Erin helped us kick off "Mic Check," another live series we co-hosted with our friends at Ninety3Impact. We are scheduling an event with BoxUnion in May. More coming soon!

Community Support and Education

Ending the Silence

NAMI WLA was recognized this month by the education team at NAMI National as one of the few NAMI affiliates in the country offering virtual Ending the Silence presentations . Our recent presentation to a group of POPS students (Pain of The Prison System) has led to an ongoing bi-monthly series of mental health check-ins. Check out this recent story in the Palisadian-Post about one of the virtual presentations we conducted for a group of highly engaged library teen council members .

Family Support Groups

Monday Family Group Support Group (usually held at Didi Hirsch), 6:30 to 8 pm, using the online video-conferencing service Zoom. Find out more here and join. New! Thursday Family Support Group , 6:30 to 8 pm, using the online video-conferencing service Zoom, hosted by a new facilitator, Adam Sholder, who has been working as an advocate and alternative educator within the mental health community for more than 25 years. Find out more here and join . Saturday Family Group Support Group (usually held at Brentwood Branch Library), 10 to 11 am, using the online video-conferencing service Zoom. Find out more here and join.

Peer Support Groups

Tuesday Peer Support Group (usually held at Cedars-Sinai), 6:30 to 8 pm, using the online video-conferencing service Zoom. Find out more here and join. Wednesday Peer Support Group (usually held at Didi Hirsch), 6:30 to 8 pm, using the online video-conferencing service Zoom. Find out more here and join. New! Thursday Peer Support Group , 4 to 5:30 pm, using the online video-conferencing service Zoom. Find out more here and join.

Spring Classes

Two new virtual Family-to-Family classes launched this month, along with a new virtual Peer-to-Peer class. Kudos to newly trained F2F teachers Janet Yang, Frank Kosa, and Adrian Meza (who met in a recently completed class), for helping us also introduce the newly revised eight-week course curriculum. We're proud to be breaking a lot of new ground here at NAMI WLA!

Crisis Support

There is always help if you or someone you love is experiencing a mental health emergency or crisis. Call 911 for emergencies. For a crisis, the Crisis Hotline is always open at 800-854-7771, or you can reach the Crisis Text Line by texting NAMI to 741741. Click here for more crisis hotlines and hospitals .

Community Outreach

Mental Health Survey

Are you a family member or loved one of an individual with a mental health condition or someone with direct experience accessing services in the mental health care system who identifies as a member of a diverse community? We want to hear from you! Take  NAMI California's annual mental health surveys .

Membership and Support

Your membership and donations help us make a difference in the lives of Angelenos living with and impacted by mental health conditions. We hope we can count on your support by being a part of the NAMI Westside Los Angeles member family.  Become a member, renew your membership, or make a donation today.  Thank you!

www.namila.org

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