Come Together – 2019 NAMI Florida Conference and Annual Meeting!
June 6, 2019
September 20-21, Friday and Saturday – Online Registration Open until September 18
Click for the Program Schedule and a list of Speakers
Interested in sponsor and exhibitor opportunities? Please view the details and sign up here: 2019 Sponsor & Exhibitor Prospectus
This year, we will be hosting our event at the beautiful Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate. Our focus is to promote collaboration and explore the mental health trends in the Sunshine State.
Communicating Is More Than Finding The Right Words
August 24, 2018 | By Keiko Purnell
My last depressive episode left me completely isolated. I didn’t respond to messages for months. Since I didn’t know how long I would be depressed, answering the question “how are you?” became emotionally draining. Actually, that one question was why I stopped talking to people entirely.
“How are you?” is such a knee-jerk opening line to a conversation; most of us don’t even realize we’re saying it, or pay much attention to the typical response Read More
When kids with mental illness can’t live at home
January 31 Kelly Burch
Many of Christine Walker’s friends are just starting to help their teenage children plan to leave home, whether for a job, college or a gap year. But Walker’s 16-year-old son Schuyler has already lived away from his family for seven years, spending nearly half his life in residential treatment programs and schools for children with severe mental illness.
“When Schuyler was 7, that was when I had tried absolutely everything — every pill, every doctor, every diet, every Read More
Family Survival Guide
By Chris Aiken, M.D. | Feb. 06, 2017
“You seem like you’re walking on eggshells,” our family therapist told me with a wise nod. The image of cracked eggs under my bare feet was strangely comforting compared to what our family was really going through. We were living with mental illness, specifically bipolar disorder.
Psychiatrists don’t know enough about how to help families in this situation. I should know—I’m a psychiatrist myself. When mental illness hit my home, Read More
Understanding Psychotic Breaks
By Ryann Tanap | Mar. 20, 2017
When you hear the phrase “psychotic break,” what comes to mind? Probably nothing good. In everyday conversation, the phrase carries a negative meaning for many because it’s perceived as a harsh and abrupt disconnect or “break” from reality—though it is more accurately described as an episode of psychosis.
Carlos Larrauri, for example, describes his experience with psychosis as more of a gradual decline, as opposed to a “break” occurring during a Read More
Help Build the Mental Health Movement
By Laura Greenstein | Mar. 29, 2017
Together, we are a movement. Our movement explains what it really means to experience mental illness. Our movement shows people experiencing mental illness that they are not alone and there is hope. While it’s a slow process, our movement is becoming louder and more persistent every time a celebrity speaks out, an article is published or an individual shares their personal story. Our movement is growing, strengthening and becoming more Read More