Welcome, everyone, to Midday Magazine for this May 21st, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mailoff here, and we're welcoming into the studio today,
our friends from NAMI of Portage and Wood Counties.
We have Andrea Mora with us. Good afternoon, Andrea.
Hello. Happy to be here.
Thanks, Zach. Good to see you.
And we have with us as well, Linda Freilich. Linda, it is good to see you again.
Good to see you, too, again.
It's nice to have you guys here.
And I always like to make sure that the audience understands where I'm coming from
with some of these things as the guy asking the questions.
And I have no journalistic integrity when it comes to this subject.
I care very deeply about mental health. It's very important to me.
And it's something that has been a part of my life from day one.
My mother and her family is Struggle with Manic Depression.
And it was something that I was very aware of at a very young age.
It was something that I was aware that could be effect my brother and sister and I,
and if we had children and so many of these things.
And I literally have been talking about this my whole life.
And it's so great to see a day and age where we can talk about this.
And we don't have to do it like this.
We can talk about it in a raised voice.
I think we've come a long way as a society when it comes to that subject.
It also means though that we have a long way to go.
We have we have we have we have we're a work in progress.
All of us are.
And I think we've done a really good job of being talking about mental health and not having
as much of a stigma as it used to.
But now the real work seems to come in where we got to start looking in the mirror.
And we have to start doing some of this work ourselves.
And we are so thankful that we have an organization like NAMI around
that is able to help guide people through this or be supportive to people about this.
And I want to get into that a little bit more with you all.
But before we do, I imagine that there might be some people out there
that don't know what NAMI is and what you guys do.
Can we discuss that to start off with and Linda if you don't mind?
So NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
It was actually started in the late 70s in Madison, Wisconsin.
So yay, hey, and by two mothers that met,
realized they had both had sons dealing with schizophrenia.
And what do they do and where were they supposed to go in the 70s?
They started an organization which became a national organization which is held in Virginia.
There is a state organization every state of the United States.
And some internationally.
And then we are NAMI ported to counties.
We cover people right here in the area of our counties.
And there's 27, is that correct?
27 affiliates or across the state of Wisconsin?
That's what I saw, yeah.
Okay, 27 affiliates throughout the state of Wisconsin that cover different counties.
So we locally provide education, support, and advocacy for people dealing with them on
the list. And our organization is a total volunteer group.
So we're there to help you whenever we can and whenever you need us.
Yeah, and this is interesting.
We're talking about this subject.
I think some people out there may think that this it is a it is a heavy subject.
And there is some seriousness that has to be said about it.
But I'm going to be smiling throughout a lot of this interview because I'm so proud of this
organization. I'm proud of our communities and our areas and so many people out there that
I think a lot of us are surprised by looking and seeking help and reaching out the strongest
individuals I've ever known have been able to do this.
Understand that they don't have all the answers.
Understand that sometimes we need to hand up and that's a big part of what NAMI is
therefore is that support is that ability to be able to, hey, you are not alone in this.
Hey, you don't have to go through this journey by yourself.
There's also the monthly support group meetings and some of those that I want to get into.
If you don't mind, I did want to touch on just one subject and this doesn't just come from me.
I talked to my mom a little bit about this before we got together because like any good Jewish
son, I talked to my mother before any, no, but she has a, this is a bit of her wheelhouse.
This is something she's also studied and looked into a lot of her life.
And for us, one of the questions that came out of it was, well, how do you know that you could
use NAMI serves? How do you know that you might be in need of them or you should reach out for help?
We're especially here in the Midwest. We're so adamant of, we'll just walk it off.
But whatever it is, a broken leg or a bad day, you just walk it off or you don't want to bother
people with your problems or so many of these things that we, these, um, these mental games that we
do to ourselves to keep us from seeking help sometimes. And some people might be in those situations
where I just have an a bad day, you know, uh, or it may be something more than that.
The something more than that is where I wanted the lean and how you can maybe tell the difference
in certainly keeping mind. This is not a black and white situation. And this is not going to apply
for everybody. You have to kind of look in your, in the mirror and look at your own self and what
applies to you and what doesn't. But there are some telltales. There are some signs that kind of can
lead to that. Do you mind if we touch on that a little bit? Absolutely. So for you guys, uh, what
was one of the standout things to you that, uh, okay, this is more than just a bad day.
For me personally, I live with bipolar disorder type one, which used to be known as manic depression.
Now it is considered bipolar disorder. And for me, I noticed that there were many alarming
behaviors that were over a sustained period of time that were disrupting my life, my personal
life, my work life, my family life. And that really led to my family recognizing and myself
recognizing that something was not right. And it came down to something really severe happening.
And I said, this isn't me. This is not my typical behavior. And that's what led me to go towards
a diagnosis and try to figure out what was wrong. And part of that process was working with a therapist.
I started with a therapist. And she recognized some of these things too. And thought, hey, we
probably should get you tested. And then I was, I did the, the formal tests and got the diagnosis.
That's really how the process goes is it's very much there is testing for some of the mental
illnesses. But a lot of it is very situational and subjective. And even if you just go to your
primary care provider, they're able to screen you and say, you know, do you have trouble getting
out of bed? Are you not eating? Are you overeating? Do you feel really sleepy? Do you have low energy
for things like bipolar disorder? Is there that manic behavior? The, the really high energy,
the disruptive behavior, the dangerous behaviors. There are lots of signs. And like you said,
James, a lot of it is self-awareness that recognizing that this isn't how I used to be. Or maybe
this is how I've always been. But it just doesn't feel right. I feel like there could be something
better out there. And it's taking those steps and advocating for yourself. Nobody's going to
advocate for you until you start that process yourself. And really say, hey, I need help. And it's
okay to ask for help. It's okay to take medications. It's okay to go to therapy. It's okay to do
these things that you need to do for yourself to get your brain in a better healthier place.
Well said. Very well said. Linda, do you want to add anything? I do. I would say my husband definitely
would say irritability was the first. And we thought, you know, thought it was just some marriage
issues we had. We had three little kids starting a business. And the irritability was something
that we really noticed then to when I finally went and sought help to. Some people will have suicidal
thoughts. Also, that can be a real trigger. And I know Andrea touched on this to the low motivation.
Not being able to do normal tasks was a big sign for me. I could not get myself into a grocery
store. I couldn't do it. I could not do the simple little things. I'd get my kids off to school
and go to bed. So those were things we really, really noticed back in the day. It's really good
notes, especially motivation. A lot of us can deal with lack of motivation, but it's the simple
task motivation. I think it's so key to that. What you said there, that's a really good note.
And each mental illness is going to have its own set of symptoms. So it's very important to
make note of exactly what you're experiencing. So you can share that with the people that can help you.
And while NAMI is not able to diagnose mental illness, we're here to support you if you're having
those symptoms. We can help through our support groups to guide you to some resources that may
be able to help you, things like that. So it's just so important that if you recognize something
within yourself or you have friends or family that say, Hey, this maybe isn't, isn't typical
behavior for you that you do take those steps because you're the only one that can help yourself.
Yeah, I think there's a couple of things that really stand out to me about what you guys have
said and all great information. I really appreciate it. The being diagnosed, it can go a long way
for people. It can have two sides to it. For me, when I was 16, I was tested for just about
everything, the gamut of things. And my parents were wondering if I was struggling with depression
or something along those lines. I have some HDAD and I also have hyper empathy. And that was really
playing on my moods and my feelings and stuff and what was pulling from others. Once I understood
that, it took years granted, but I finally got to a place of where I understood, okay, these are
my feelings are, Oh, I'm feeling something from somebody else and being able to differentiate that.
That's just for me, everybody out there might have something else or not. At least either way,
if you find out and you do have a diagnosis, you're better prepared going forward or maybe find out
you don't have a diagnosis. You don't have something along those lines. So then you know the,
okay, well, this is the plan of attack I have for this going forward. And it is possible to have more
than one diagnosis. There are what's called co-morbid conditions. And those are where you have
a main diagnosis, but there's other mental illnesses that travel behind that and compound the
symptoms and the things you're experiencing. And it's important to to remind yourself that it's
okay. You are okay. There's nothing wrong with you. You are not an imperfect person. We all have
a little bit of imperfection in us, but it's how we handle that and what we do to help improve
ourselves that really matters. And that's a big focus of NAMI is letting you know that you aren't
alone, that we have these groups and the classes and all the things that we can offer to help
support our community. And that is our whole mission. Like Linda said, to educate, support, and
advocate for mental illness. And it's just such an important topic. And again, we can't thank you
enough for having us on today. And we're loving this conversation. One thing that I would like to
add to the conversation, and I don't mean to pull an audible on you all or anything like that,
but it is coming to mind as we're talking about this, especially when we're talking about things
that can keep hold us back from this. And certainly there's a lot of things in the Midwest and a
lot of things Americans in general really feel. But one of the things that we can keep us from doing
things so often is shame. So often it can be that it can be the need for help can keep you back from
something. And I have to say and I think that a lot of people will echo this. The strongest
human beings I've ever known. My mother is the strongest person I've ever met in my life.
And she has never hesitated from this. It took her a while to get there by the time I got to know
her, of course, as an adult and everything as a kid, her and as an adult. She had come a long
ways with this, but she struggled through her teenage years and early 20s seeking help, even telling
anybody she was having a bad day, let alone looking for help for it and everything. You deserve
the best life. You deserve goodness. You deserve happy days and you can fight for those things.
You can get those things. It takes time. Sometimes it takes work, but it's worth it. And you can
come out the other side of it. And recovery is possible. I love what you just said because
recovery is possible. And you have to do the work. You have to take those steps. It's not,
it's not going to get better until you do things to help yourself and seek that support. But I have
been stable for the most part on my mental health meds for about five and a half years. And I like
to say that I'm living, walking, breathing, proof that recovery is possible. Will there be setbacks?
Absolutely. I will be living with this disease my entire life. But you can do what you need to do
to really help yourself. And that's what we want to do is help you find those ways that you can
help yourself. I'm Andrew. So I got this is Linda. I got connected. That's okay. I got connected
with NAMI probably back in, oh boy, probably I'm 62. So when I was 38, so I've been connected
for a while. Didn't really get that involved. What I found really interesting about NAMI is
things that were trained in when we choose to train as a volunteer is we have firsthand
experience of that. So I'm one of the co facilitators and Steven's point for our support group.
Andrew is one here in Rapids. And I got trained for that. I chose to be trained for that because
I myself deal with it. And so I can support other people. So if people are trained in family
to family class to teach a class or a family support group facilitator, that's because they have
a family where we're friends that deal with mental illness. I'm trained in a program we can do
called in our own voice where we go out and we can train to learn to tell our own story out there
which is very powerful and very eye opening for people. And you talked about your mom being tough
and strong. I feel that I'm that type of person I can tell you in my beginning of all of this and
learning all of this. I can say I didn't feel as strong, but I always had hope. And that's one
thing about NAMI. We never give up hope. We have hope. And we really promote that. So we are not
professionals. None of us are professionals. What we're trained in things that we know and have
life experiences with, which I think is huge. That goes a long way. I know I think a lot of us
out there feel more comfortable talking and speaking and sharing with people that have walked
a similar path. Degrees are not. I think that that's the real education. The lived experiences
really what impacts people when you can talk about your own experiences. And it goes back to
the whole NAMI principle of you are not alone when you can share what you're going through like
Linda does with the in our own voice. And like I do with presentations at my employer,
it's just that's what people connect with. And that's what really makes them think,
hey, you know what, maybe, maybe something is not quite right. But it's going to be okay.
We're speaking with Andrea and Linda from NAMI of Portage and Wood Counties. And I'd
like to get into some of the different groups and support groups that are available for people.
There's a wide variety and they're they meet a lot.
Okay, so we have a peer support group of one each month and we cover supported in wood
county. So our larger cities, we have one in Steven's point among one in Wood County in Wisconsin
Marshfield. So in Steven's point, we hold it the first Thursday of every month. Do you want me
to tell locations or should sure? Okay, so that's held at the St. Paul Lutheran School in Steven's
point on Wyatt Avenue from 615 to 745. NAMI always does things in a buddy system. So there's always
two facilitators or two teachers at everything that we do. The one in Wisconsin Rapids is held the
third Wednesday of each month from 6 to 730. And that's at the United Methodist Church on Garfield.
Please come join us. And then one in Marshfield is the fourth Tuesday of each month from 6 to 730.
And that's held at the Faith Lutheran Church on Cherry Avenue. I want to comment that a lot of
our locations of places may be a public building, may be a church. NAMI has no affiliate to any church.
We as a NAMI portage wood counties are a whole total volunteer organization. We don't have
our own building. We don't have that kind of funds. So we get free space from places and that's why
we hold things at churches or at the library or anything like that. Then our family support groups,
we have two of those throughout the month and the first one is in Steven's point on the first Monday
of the month, which is 630 to 8 p.m. again at St. Paul Lutheran School. And the second one is in
Wisconsin Rapids, which is the second Monday of the month. That's from 6 to 730. That's again at
United Methodist Church on Garfield in here in Rapids. I would like to say a gigantic thank you
to all the churches, the libraries, the organizations that host these that let NAMI come in and be able
to do their vital work that they are doing. Really do appreciate those organizations, those
different groups of people. Without them, we would not be able to hold these support groups. And
we are so so thankful and so grateful that they allow us to use these spaces. It's a side note.
It also speaks to how we need to support you guys more and get you guys more funding and be
there for you all because you're doing some really important work and it's only going to get more
and more important as we go forward here. The genie's out of the bottle. We're not putting it back
in. We're not going backwards with mental health. Those days are over. And in order to go forward,
organizations like yours need funding and need support. And I encourage people to look into
other ways of being able to do that kind of thing. I also wanted to mention that you all,
speaking of that kind of thing, you guys want to do more and you'd like to be able to have classes,
you'd like to be able to do more hands-on, I imagine, and some of that. We just need to know if
you guys want that out there. You listeners out there and need that. If a community is looking for
please reach out to NAMI and let you guys know more, I imagine. Absolutely. Our website,
namiportagewoodcounties.org has a lot of information. There's a lot of contacts. You can reach out to
on that website with all the information for those people. And we are also on social media. I happen
to be the social media manager, wink, wink. And we're on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. So please
go ahead and find us on there. A lot of our events and things like that are listed on Facebook.
And we make little videos and things like that on TikTok, all about mental health and mental
illness. And we hope to reach as many people as possible, which is why we also do the social media.
And like Linda said, we are a completely volunteer affiliate and everything we do is donation-based.
We are not able to provide what we provide without community support. And we want to be out there as
much as possible. So when you support us, that allows us to support you. It goes a long way to
businesses out there. There are a few things that are going to help you more PR-wise in attaching
yourself to nami. That looks good. That is always a good thing. If that's an incentive for you.
Hopefully you're doing this for the good reasons enough for your heart and all that. But if you're
running a business, you got to think about the checks and balances and everything. This is a great
thing to attach yourself to. If you're an individual out there, there are a few things that are going
to make you feel stronger better than being able to put into an organization like this. There's
also presentations that you guys offer, whether you need this another way to support nami.
Absolutely. So we have a couple of things we do. We do a chat presentation, which is for the third
through six graders in any school. You need to contact us. My information is on the website.
And chat is a presentation we do at the schools where we talk about mental illness. How does it
look like just any other illness? To break the stigma at a young age and I have done
numerous ones of those and it amazes me how much children at that age know about mental illness.
And it gives them an outlook to talk about it. They may share personal things that they deal with
in their family. It is such rewarding work and just to make it really make a difference. Another
one we do is in our own voice training. People are trained who can go out and share their own
experiences, go share their own story about mental illness. That comes along with both of them come
along with a PowerPoint presentation that Nami National or Nami Wisconsin has put together.
There are amazing presentations, very eye opening, never been disappointed in the people that
attend them. They just can't believe how much they've learned in that hour. And then another one
we can do is it's a hearing voice assimilation where people that deal with schizophrenia will hear
voices. And so it's actually setting using using audio information actually sitting and listening
to voices that come through and what people would be dealing with on that while we complete some
simple tasks that we give you. And it's eye opening for people to see how does somebody live their
life listening to these things during their day time. So those are three of the ones that I can
think of that we do that are so important to get out in the community. And there's there's a lot
more that Nami wants to do. Reach out to them, find out ways that you can help support what they're
doing. And maybe they can support you and help you encourage others to do that. If I can just one
last thing I did want to mention kind of piggybacking on the whole conversation, but something that we've
all touched on all three of us and the idea of being diagnosed. And I never, you know, to each
their own, you live your life the way you will. But I do, I hear from so many older individuals
that are getting diagnosed at a later age and so much becomes clear to them. Oh, this is why I've
always been this way because of this. It's better than no. It really is. And when you do these things,
it's there's no sentence here that happens with this. This is a gift. This is you understanding your
brain and your body more. And there it's not a anybody's fault kind of thing. We're getting more
and more data as we're going forward here. We're still mapping the brain, everybody. I mean,
well, there's a lot here. So older generations, it's not your fault necessarily that you didn't
know these things. And we didn't have some of this stuff available. As it was said earlier, Linda
mentioned earlier, it's been since the 70s that Nami's been around. So we know that this is
something that's been important for a long time for decades. We're just kind of catching up now.
Give yourself some grace and reach out and seek help if you need it.
Exactly. I think when COVID hit was a real turning point for mental illness, I think people realized
what that, not even physically what that did for people, but what it really did for a lot of
people, SARS isolation. And I know that we're seeing that in our youth and young people. And that
population is very serious signs of showing right now. And they really need our support. They
need our help as well. And the other thing I wanted to say is everything we do is for free. So
please reach out to us because we are willing to be there to for you and to help you through this
process. I cannot thank you guys enough. Thank you both so much for what you're doing for our
communities, what you're sharing time with me today and your own journeys. Thank you for what
you're doing. I appreciate it. I admire it and I appreciate the inspiration. Thanks for
it. Thank you for the conversation. Thanks a lot James. Thank you to Andrea and Linda from
NAMI of Portagen Wood counties for joining us today. Doors always open you too. We'll talk
again real soon. I will have more midday magazine coming up for you right here at WFHR,
locally grown radio.
