The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
NAMI Lorain County has new location
“At Nord, we were open for everyone, but people thought you had to be a Nord Center client to work with (NAMI). We got others from different agencies.”
— Claire Cygan Young, executive director of NAMI Lorain County
The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Lorain County, also known as NAMI, has a new home.
The agency moved to 6125 S. Broadway Ave. in Lorain from an office at The Nord Center in Lorain.
NAMI is located in a building shared with Northern Ohio Billing Specialists, Anesthesia Associates and Clark & Post Architects.
Claire Cygan Young, executive director of NAMI Lorain County, said the organization wanted to develop independence as an organization and as an independent agency.
Young said NAMI previously used offices in The Nord Center for about four years and treated the center’s clients as well as others in the county.
NAMI would see many Nord Center clients, but have been wanting to reach
out and let people know they are there for all of Lorain County, she said.
Two offices were used at Nord Center and Young said NAMI began running out of space to provide their services.
Young said NAMI has been around as an organization for more than 30 years.
She said NAMI gives support to consumers and clients who have been diagnosed with mental illness.
NAMI helps the families
of those living with mental illness also to understand what they’re going through and how to properly react to specific issues.
The organization offers peer support groups from licensed facilitators who are diagnosed with mental illnesses to connect with clients.
There also are family and care-giver support groups as well as training programs to educate and support those who care for others with mental illness.
NAMI will continue to collaborate with The Nord Center, Young said.
“At Nord, we were open for everyone, but people thought you had to be a Nord Center client to work with (NAMI),” she said. “We got others from different agencies. People just thought it was (solely) a Nord Center program.”
Young said the space will become beneficial to the organization’s growth on the stigma around mental illness. NAMI is adding programs such as one that supports those who have lost someone by suicide, Young said.
There are more programs for clients and volunteers developing in Lorain and are looking for them to grow, she said.
In Young’s Anti Stigma Campaign: “Label Jars, Not People,” she said she hopes that things continue to change for the better of those with mental illnesses.
“Mental illness is like any illness,” she said.
Young hopes to encourage people to come to NAMI through her campaign and get the help they need so they don’t feel ashamed of their mental illness.