Sermon prompts mental health ministry

For a long time, Alison Galway said she avoided talking to people about her depression.

"You don't want to mention it because you don't want to alarm people," Galway said.

But after a broken arm in November and decreasing daylight of the winter months increased her feelings, in December she decided to step out of her comfort zone and step into a mental wellness support group she'd heard about at Blacksburg's Unitarian Universalist Congregation.

It was a step the 69-year-old Blacksburg woman said she was thankful to have taken.

"We can almost automatically sympathize with one another and you feel a sense of camaraderie that you don't get" elsewhere, Galway said.

The sense of commonality and community is something the church's Mental Health Justice Ministry has been working to grow, in part through the two mental wellness support groups it began about a year ago.

The two groups, one for those with a mental illness and one for friends and family of those with a condition, both meet from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on the third Monday of every month at the church on Gladewood Drive.

The ministry grew out of a push from the congregation to better address mental wellness issues during a social justice-themed Sunday service about three years ago, said one of the ministry's leaders, Margo Walter.

"I would really like to see us making big roads towards dismantling mental illness stigma and...providing access to help for it," said Walter during a recent meeting of the groups' steering committee.

Along with the support groups, the ministry has also taken on a variety of tasks, including holding workshops, meeting with local legislators and working to compile an online contact directory for mental health resources, to meet that goal.

They are also working towards becoming an affiliate of the Virginia branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), "the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness," according to its website, www.nami.org.

Sarah Steadman, director of NAMI's adult and family programs in Virginia, said the New River Valley lost its previous NAMI affiliate when membership waned in 2015.

Steadman said NAMI of Virginia was in the process of transitioning all of its state affiliates to be uniformed with the standards set out by the overarching national affiliate and the Blacksburg group was on track to do that. Qualifications for affiliation include setting up a board to run the affiliate, having an up-to-date website and working towards becoming a 501c3 nonprofit.

The ministry group said they hope to gain momentum for the effort by reaching out to other individuals and groups with similar interests, such as New River Valley Community Services.

NRVCS Community Relations Specialist Mike Wade said he thought the group might fill a void in the area.

"There aren't a ton of support groups out there in our community that are related to behavioral heath issues," Wade said.

"I think anytime there are opportunities to have discussion about mental health issues and to do that in a safe, welcoming environment...I think that's always a positive," he said.

Galway said she planned to continue taking the discussion opportunities provided by the support groups and would encourage others struggling to do the same.

"I would tell them to give it a try and go to at least two or three meetings," Galway said.

"They need to give it a chance."

See more at: www.nami.org/About-NAMI#sthash.u0JFFcPD.