NAMI Vicksburg

Greetings from NAMI Vicksburg! Well, we are still wearing masks, washing our hands, and socially distancing over here in River City! Thankfully we can look forward to the arrival of the vaccine as another helpful tool in our battle with COVID. In the meantime, let us continue to stay in touch with each other and be an encouraging voice in the middle of mayhem.

Since our last newsletter report was written in July, there is a lot to catch up on. In addition to being the year of a pandemic, 2020 was also a year of learning new ways of doing things … such as how to do a virtual conference, virtual classes, virtual support groups, all things virtual! While challenging to say the least, these changes forced teachers, mentors, facilitators, and presenters to think outside the box and learn new things. Much to our surprise, these virtual presentations showed us many new opportunities to reach people all around the state and even in other states. Aft er all, if a conference is online, anyone can dial in and access the meeting with the access info. Suddenly our affiliate borders have opened up, and we are in touch with everyone.

July 7th brought us our first conference call Family Support Group along with our quarterly Affiliate Meeting on July 28th, also done via conference call. Part of the discussion at this meeting centered around the newly revised Family-toFamily curriculum which would now be shortened to eight weeks instead of the previous 12-week course. Teachers were encouraged to complete the short video recertification training and order a free copy of the new teaching manual. Further discussion centered around the apprehension teachers felt about trying to learn to teach the course virtually.

The Family & Friends 90-minute seminar has proven to be very flexible and convenient for presenting on short notice when requests come in for NAMI education/resource materials. It was first offered to NAMI Vicksburg as part of a grant available to the affiliate when the seminar was first being released. Six Family-to-Family teachers (Randall Williams, Mary Pope, Sarah Johnson, Jenny Drake, Deloris McGee, Harriette Mastin) in Vicksburg were trained as Family & Friends presenters, and beginning in April 2019, the Affiliate began presenting the seminar. Due to COVID, the last face to face presentation of the four-hour seminar was done Feb. 24th & March 2nd, 2020 by Randall W. and Sarah J. Seeing the need to move to a virtual platform, Jenny Drake and Deloris McGee arranged for a training with Jackson State University student Kaleiah Drake, who showed them how to present the seminar using Zoom or Webex. Since that time, they have presented seven times with three more presentations in the coming weeks (as of this writing). As a follow-up, Thomas Carson, along with NAMI MS, also arranged technical trainings for all presenters, teachers, trainers, and facilitators. Side note: Family & Friends was done for the Central MS Affiliate meeting on Jan. 5th and on Feb. 6th, for the Oxford Affiliate by Jenny and Deloris. Get access info from NAMI MS the next time a presentation is scheduled. Th ere is also a video available when the teachers are unable to do a live presentation.

October 10th brought the first virtual Walk for NAMI Vicksburg, and it was a great success! Held to coincide with the National Day of Hope and NAMIWalks Mississippi, the Affiliate had five teams, 19 participants, and five sponsors (City of Vicksburg, Warren Yazoo Behavioral Health, Warren County Board of Supervisors, People’s Drug Store, Above the Barre Performing Academy) and raised $4,215.00. Thanks to all who organized teams, videoed themselves performing/walking/dancing, and provided gift bags for sponsors.

November brought a Peer-to-Peer Training with Thomas Carson and a Family & Friends seminar with Jenny Drake. Th en with the arrival of December and the holidays, there is always so much excitement about the annual Christmas Party for our friends who live in the group home, Wisconsin Cove Apartments, and in the community. Sadly this year, due to the pandemic, plans for the Christmas Parade and the Christmas Party had to be canceled. However, NAMI Vicksburg could not let the season pass without remembering our friends, so the Affiliate voted to send each person a Christmas card with a small monetary gift inside, a total of 37 cards. The response was truly heartwarming as we received many calls, texts, and emails from recipients expressing so much gratitude. It was a true blessing to the Affiliate members.

Now we are back to January 2021 and find ourselves wondering what we accomplished in 2020. We choose to look ahead to the many opportunities that the new year holds, and we invite you to join us. We have reinstated our Affiliate Development Committee, which was active several years ago and accomplished so much in keeping all of the affiliates in touch and on the same page. We invite you to join that committee and work with us as we encourage each other, compare notes, and build each other up. We will work on expanding our affiliates to other parts of the state and will enjoy a monthly conference call to brainstorm and come up with ideas. We would like for at least one person (or more) from each affiliate to join us. Thomas Carson, our NAMI Vicksburg President and NAMI MS Board Member, is chairing this committee, and we need YOU!

We are looking forward to the 2021 Virtual State Conference May 26-29, and the 2021 NAMIWalk in the fall. We are all needed in planning these events so be sure to sign up to help with the Conference Committee and the Walk Committee. Remember that the Walk is the major fundraiser for NAMI MS at this time.

If you need us:

Vicksburg Family Support Group Conference Call – 1st Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m.

Connection Recovery Group – refer to NAMI Central MS Connection Group – Th ursdays at 1:30 p.m.

For more info on classes or support groups, email vicksburg@namims.org or text 601-218-0843.

Submitted by NAMI Vicksburg