NAMI San Diego Speaks Out on Family Separations at the Border

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NAMI San Diego Speaks Out on Family Separations at the Border

July 3, 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:
Cathryn Nacario, RN, MHA
Chief Executive Officer
858-634-6580
cathrynnacario@namisd.org
www.namisandiego.org

FOR NEWS EDITORS AND DIGITAL MEDIA

NAMI San Diego Speaks Out on Family Separations at the Border

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI San Diego) was created based on the foundation of family involvement. In fact, it was a group of concerned parents of children with mental illness meeting around a kitchen table 40 years ago in San Diego who were the forerunners of what is now NAMI—a national organization with over 900 affiliates with the goal of supporting, educating and advocating for everyone affected by mental illness.

Today NAMI San Diego is the city’s voice on mental illness and through our years of experience, we believe that strong family support is vital to a child’s long-term mental health. The forced separation of families at our country’s borders is highly stressful and can result in trauma because it rips away vital family structure that offers stability and support to growing children and their parents/caregivers.

Cathryn Nacario, CEO of NAMI San Diego said “this practice of separating children from their families creates long lasting trauma and post traumatic stress during vital developmental years that can have lifelong effects.”

There is growing evidence that exposing young children to trauma is toxic to the development of their brains. Traumatic experiences can negatively impact development and mental health as children grow. Prolonged trauma can result in a complex version of PTSD where a severed sense of security and belonging at a young age may impact a person well into adulthood.

These separations can profoundly affect children who do not yet have a mental health condition, as well as those who are currently experiencing symptoms. Ripping families apart undermines not only a sense of security and safety that family unity offers, but also creates anxiety due to the uncertainty in parents and children of when and how they will be reunited.

“This practice of separating families is potentially a huge mental health crisis in the making and it absolutely needs to stop,” Nacario explained. NAMI San Diego joins the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Family Physicians and others in urging an immediate end to the practice of separating families.

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“I think because of my mental illness I’ve become a very accepting person. I have made many friends with mental illnesses along the way and we have helped each other to get through difficult times. My fiancé has a mental illness as well. We met each other at a support group almost 8 years ago and we are still together and very supportive of each other. Even today I am very lucky to have so many family and friend who are so accepting of my despite my diagnosis.”

“For me, support groups have never been the best source of support. But I knew about the free 12 week course Family-to-Family through NAMI San Diego and decided to take the time out of my busy schedule to take the first class. I finally put a pause to my busy life and quickly realized that the reasons why I had put off taking the class were all of a sudden no longer important. Each class was jam packed with information and I was picking up things like a sponge. It gave me a different perspective on what my dad was going through and different ways to approach him.”

“My personal journey with mental illness began 7-8 years ago. After getting diagnosed, recognizing what approach to take, taking responsibility towards acceptance, learning tools and skills, then applying those tools and skills. NAMI San Diego makes a difference in my life by opening me up to learn new aspects of helping, volunteering, sharing, listening to many different views and perspectives of changes and new improvements.”

“My personal journey with mental illness began in 2011 after being deployed to Iraq for a year. As the medical support, I was exposed to levels of human trauma rarely seen by others. It changed how I see people and how fragile and how much of a gift life really is. NAMI makes a difference in my life by changing how accepted I feel in the conversations I have with my peers. Also how motivated people are to not only get better but stay better and encourage others to be the absolute best they can be.”

“I feel so lucky to have found Hope and light thru my darkness – only when I was at my weakest point I found someone who cared through the Helpline. They were willing to listen and seemed to accept me for who I am. I found resources and guidance to the peer support NAMI office. So a big thanks to NAMI but especially the Helpline!!”

“Mental illness affect me because it runs in my family. NAMI San Diego has made a difference in my life by making support groups available to me. By providing resources and support classes that enabled me to do school work and achieving my goals.”

“Several of my family members possibly have paranoid schizophrenia. My personal journey with this disease began when I was 5 yrs. old, with my father. He had years of relapses and hospitalizations before he passed. Now my youngest son suffers from the same disease. NAMI SD has helped me throughout this process.”

”I never heard the term mental illness until I came to NAMI. Even my psychiatrists only said depression or bipolar. When I took the In Our Own Voice training and I heard I had a brain disorder, an illness like any other, it was such a relief.”

“I grew up with a dad as a combat vet with PTSD and a sister who lives with schizophrenia. I went to combat a couple times and PTSD/GAD are a part of me now. Many of my vet friends are also living with PTSD, GAD, TBI, etc. NAMI allowed me to be myself without being ashamed about it. NAMI gives me the support and environment needed to continue living in recovery without fear of prejudice whenever I have sporadic flashbacks.”

“Survivor of suicide loss – Two years ago, I lost my father to suicide. His struggle with addiction and depression opened my eyes to the stigma of mental illness and the trauma of loss. I began volunteering with NAMI the summer after my father died and I feel incredibly grateful for every opportunity to provide hope and support to all those affected by mental illness.”

[mental illness] “Prevents me from participating in the world of employment. NAMI San Diego has helped me by boosting my confidence in the world of technology. This knowledge will assist me one day in the employment community.”

“The most important resources and advocates I have found in one word … NAMI. Thank heaven I found this organization. I was lost, didn’t know who to talk to, didn’t know who had been through the same experiences I had, could find no information that was helpful or if I found it, it was so scary that I couldn’t read it. One day I heard about this organization. I called … and what I got was a sanity saver.”

NAMI San Diego Speaks Out on Family Separations at the Border

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