Mentally ill find support, someone ready to defend them through NAMI

BOULDER — Mental health in Colorado has a long way to go, according to Sharon Bowyer.

“Colorado has had no qualms about cutting the budget for mental health services,” says Bowyer, who’s the president of NAMI Boulder County, part of a National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, which works to educate the public about mental illness and provide support to those with mental illnesses and their families.

According to a collaborative report by eight Colorado foundations published this year:

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” One in five Coloradans needs mental health services, but only a third receive care (600,000 Coloradans went without treatment in 2000). That lack of care results in suicide, lost productivity and homelessness.

” In 2001, Colorado ranked 31st nationally for publicly funded mental health care.

” Colorado lacks psychiatrists and other trained specialists.

Bowyer says she’s worried the state will continue to cut mental health budgets and lower the number of beds or even close facilities at Fort Logan and Pueblo.

“It is so incredibly sad that in today’s world of better medicines and better known therapies, that we have less and less money to provide the services needed for people with a mental illness,” Bowyer says.

And NAMI Boulder County, which has 11 board members (all of whom either have family members with mental illnesses or suffer from one themselves) knows about lack of money its budget for this year is just $12,000.

“That’s actually high for us based on our usual donations, but we have been saving for a rainy day, and there were some things we needed to do like reprint our brochures and reach out to more people,” Bowyer explains. “Also, we usually find that it’s hard to find enough people and energy to fulfill all our goals so our entire budget doesn’t get spent.”

Its two biggest budget items are printing and distributing newsletters and an annual spring luncheon. Occasionally NAMI will send a board member to the organization’s national convention.

Most of the organization’s donations come from members and usually range from $15 to $100. It’s received only two grants in the last four years. Bowyer explains the organization hasn’t been able to find a volunteer to dedicate the time and expertise to help NAMI develop special programs and then apply for grants for these programs.

Over the last three years NAMI received donations “in memory” as a result of the deaths of some of those with a mental illness — two as a result of suicide.

But what the organization lacks in money, it more than makes up for with assertiveness. When the group saw two cartoons it didn’t like in the Rocky Mountain News this summer, it came out swinging.

NAMI Boulder County says the cartoon, “Go Figure,” crossed the line of good taste twice. The first cartoon showed a client on couch, “Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, doctor.”

The doctor sitting next to open window with curtain blowing replies, “I had a last-minute cancellation & have the police cleaned up the nasty mess on the sidewalk yet?”

Bowyer says some reports have stated that 85 to 90 percent of people who commit suicide have a mental illness.

“This is a fear that all our families — and clients — have to live with,” Bowyer says. “Making a comic out of suicide just isn’t humor. People with a mental illness and their families constantly fight stigma. The stigma is alive and well everywhere, including the state of Colorado.”

The second cartoon depicted a psychiatrist saying to a client lying on the couch, “By the way, Mr. Womak, the next time you need to cancel an appointment, please have your voices call here at least 25 hours in advance.”

“Many people with a mental illness must deal with hallucinations of all types, and they are terrifying,” Bowyer says.

NAMI wrote the Rocky Mountain News about the two cartoons and sent e-mails to the comic strip’s distributors and asked them to forward NAMI’s views on to the creator. And NAMI’s national office sent the information to its members across the nation to watch for and respond to the comic when it added to the stigma.

Experts say mental illnesses include such disorders as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic and other severe anxiety disorders. These disorders can profoundly disrupt a person’s thinking, feeling, moods, ability to relate to others and capacity for coping with the demands of life.

But physicians and others say mental illnesses are treatable. Those with serious mental illness need medication to help control symptoms, but also rely on supportive counseling, self-help groups, assistance with housing, vocational rehabilitation, income assistance and other community services to achieve a high level of recovery.

“Mental illnesses can affect persons of any age, race, religion or income, and mental illnesses are not the result of personal weakness, lack of character or poor upbringing,” Bowyer says.

NAMI holds free classes open to family members, caretakers and friends of people with mental illness. For more information, call NAMI at (303) 443-4591.