NAMI Maine provides essential services during an essential time

By Amy Hodgdon

At this time last year, we had only just begun to realize the forthcoming impact of COVID-19. Businesses were temporarily shutting down. Employees were temporarily laid off. Schools were temporarily sending kids home. Our lives were temporarily on hold.

And “temporary” was a very relative and fluid term. 

Depending on who you talked to, things would be back to normal in anywhere from two weeks to two years. Science around COVID-19 was evolving in real time. The speed with which we were receiving new information — and new worries — was staggering. 

And all of this was just in the first two weeks.

Since then, we have had to encounter isolation, further disruption to our lives, added stress, and in some cases the loss of loved ones, jobs and all sense of normalcy. We have encountered these struggles with no known end date, just hope and faith that we would pull through it. 

Now, we are a full year into COVID-19’s effect on our state. While there have been glimmers along the way, we are starting to see more signs of hope: Vaccinations coming in quicker than expected, fewer daily positive cases, and a pattern of scientific data that is giving us optimism that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

However, the toll this has taken on the mental health of friends, neighbors, co-workers, and loved ones remains. COVID-19 has caused a mental health crisis. 

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Maine is here to help. 

First, we urge Mainers to arm yourselves with knowledge and the free supports available to you. Do this to tend to your own mental wellness and be tuned into seeing the warning signs of a loved one, co-worker or neighbor who is struggling with mental health. 

NAMI Maine’s free programs are now more accessible than ever. For example, the NAMI Maine Coping with COVID Webinar series discusses the personal and professional stresses of coping with COVID-19, how to hold hope and use concrete strategies to build resilience and tackle mental health challenges.

NAMI Maine’s HelpLine (800-464-5767) gives callers access to a compassionate team that works with them to help find the means to improve their situation and give hope for the future. Assistance is available to navigate the mental health and/or criminal justice system, help to understand rights as a peer or family member and how individuals can best advocate for themselves. Trained staff can also find a service or provider based on need, location and income; offer resources and materials about mental health and recovery; and engage in collaborative problem solving around mental health concerns. 

The NAMI Maine Teen Text Line (207-515-8398) is a resource for teens who are struggling. Be it isolation and hopelessness or the overwhelming feelings that go along with COVID-19, the Teen Text Line offers the opportunity to talk about feelings and get support from another young person. We get it. And we are here to offer support, information, and strategies to help teens keep moving forward.

NAMI Maine’s Online Support Groups give a safe, confidential environment to connect with and learn from people experiencing similar circumstances, learn new skills to approach daily challenges and share stories about successes and struggles with mental illness or co-occurring substance use.

And the NAMI Family-to-Family program is an eight-week, evidence-based course, teaching how to support a loved one living with mental illness with compassion, while managing an individual’s own stress, and how to handle a crisis.

Asking for help is a sign of strength. And when you reach out to NAMI Maine what you will discover is a community of support- available to you, your loved ones, co-workers, schools, businesses- everyone! 

We are a mission-driven, results-based nonprofit community dedicated to YOU. So, reach out to us and tell your loved ones to reach out to us. We are here to hold hope with you when the world starts to feel heavy. And we are not going anywhere. 

Hodgdon is the president of the board of directors of NAMI Maine. This column was written on behalf of the NAMI Maine executive leadership team and board of directors.