Education, Support, Advocacy for Families Experiencing Mental Illness
3371 Brunswick Pike, Suite 124
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
t. 609-799-8994 e.
Application For the PCTV Community Partners Project 2016
April 18, 2016
About NAMI Mercer
Organization / NAMI Mercer is a leading Central New Jersey non-profit 501c3 community organization serving and supporting family members and their loved ones affected by mental illness since 1984. We educate and advocate in the greater Trenton-Princeton area for better quality of life and respect for all with mental illness free of stigma and discrimination.NAMI Mercer is an affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, since 1979 the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to bettering the lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. We are also the largest and oldest affiliate of NAMI New Jersey, the leading statewide advocate for loved ones and families confronting mental illness since 1985.
Rationale / Mental illness can shred families. The onset of mental illness is deeply traumatizing not only to stricken loved ones, but also to their family members. With the emotional trauma of mental illness often also come other devastations, such as social stigma, financial ruination, psychological torment, and legal entanglements.
Mental illness often plunges loved ones and families into a swirling maelstrom. Struggling and suffering in silence amidst seemingly persistent and unpredictable chaos, they can quickly slide into isolation and obscurity. They need to reconcile what has befallen them. They need to recover new means and meaning for life. They need more services and solutions. They need to learn how to navigate complicated, sometimes callous, and often exasperating shoals of policies, procedures, programs and professionals which too often conflict, frustrate, underserve. Most of all, they need more love, understanding, and support from a too often indifferent society.
Governance / NAMI Mercer’s Board of Directors comprises a diverse group of significant community leaders from the local area. Our president is Karen Marquis. Recently retired from Pfizer, Inc., Karen spent more than 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry conducting drug discovery work in the field of neuroscience, in particular medications for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Karen earned her BA in psychology from Mississippi College and her PhD in pharmacology from the University of Mississippi, with a specialization in behavioral pharmacology. She has authored more than 50 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Administration / Our Executive Director is Janet Haag. Janet earned Master of Art degrees in Clinical Psychology and in Formative Spirituality/Leadership from Duquesne University. Previously, Janet was executive director of Interweave, a spiritual learning center in Summit, NJ. Earlier, she was executive director of Fellowship in Prayer in Princeton. From 1995 to 2006, Janet was deputy director of Children’s Choice, a multi-state, non-profit, child welfare agency based in Chester, PA.
Our Director of Operations is Danita Saunders-Davis, a NAMI Mercer veteran since 2007 and a U.S. Army veteran previously stationed in Korea. Our Director of Development is Christine Bakter, an experienced fundraiser and previous winner of Autism Speakers Founders Award for excellence in volunteer leadership.
About Our Video Concept
Message / Our videowill portray the experience with mental illness of family members and loved ones, possibly encompassing an inside look at sensitive subjects such as:- The “Discovery Moment” when a virtual earthquake rocks the family who learns the incredible news of a loved one’s mental illness.
- The “Despair Moment” when the family and its loved one mourn lost dreams of “normality” and “success” and instead now much contemplate a new lifelong battle with the future.
- The “Crisis Moment” in the ER, Screening Center, or police station, when the family member confronts harrowing, destabilizing, and even threatening crises, the often frustrating and even frightening institutional responses to them, and the new harsh realities of limitation, constriction, and diminishment that such episodes can portend.
- The “Learning Moment”, when family members (often through NAMI Mercer’s Family to Family course) learn for the first time the full extent of brain science and behavior, and evidence-based techniques for helping the recoveries of their loved ones and themselves.
- The “Transformation Moment”, when families finally come to terms with the new realities for themselves and their loved ones—and what better things they can achieve together with their loved ones through informed and empathetic collaboration.
- The “Transcendental Moment”, when family members ultimately reconcile their situations and resolve to improve conditions for their loved ones and others through activism and advocacy, even coming to the conclusion of unforeseen blessings can arise from the maelstrom of mental illness.
The Video’s Use /
- To promote better awareness of the initially stigmatizing and traumatic, but ultimately triumphant, family struggle with mental illness.
- To feature on our website, on other linked websites, on YouTube, and in public viewings accompanying our presentations and advocacy.
- To increase the impact of NAMI Mercer’s community work, the stature and influence of NAMI Mercer within the mental health advocacy community, and the interest of the general local public to join and support NAMI Mercer.
- To be a superb participation, collaboration, and leadership development opportunity for NAMI Mercer members and volunteers, especially those loved ones experiencing mental illness.
Our production team / The NAMI Mercer Video Production Team will initially comprise:
Tom Pyle, Chairman. Tom is a family member and behavioral health executive and advocate. A member of the New Jersey Behavioral Health Planning Council, Tom serves on NAMI Mercer’s Board and chairs NAMI Mercer’s Advocacy Committee. Tom resides in Princeton. Tom is a member of PCTV.
Akavar Dylutra, member. Akavar is an emergency room peer counseling specialist at Acute Psychiatric Services, Rutgers UBHC. He is also a former NAMI Mercer Board member. Akavar has previous technical experience in a variety of relevant areas, including audio, cinematography, camera operation, and project management. A Certified WRAP Facilitator, he co-facilitates evidence based practice WRAP workshops for NAMI Mercer.
Robert Hedden, member. Robert is a mental health community member and advocate and social entrepreneur. He is also a NAMI In Our Own Voice public speaker. Robert has served many years as a dedicated NAMI Mercer volunteer and recently joined its Board of Directors. Previously he worked at Princeton University’s Fine Library as a collections assistant (where he befriended Professor John Nash). Robert received his B.S. in Technological Studies from the College of New Jersey. A native of Trenton, Robert resides in Hamilton. He is a member of PCTV.
Janet Haag, ex-officio member. Janet is NAMI Mercer’s Executive Director.
Karen Marquis, Ph.D., advisor. Karen is NAMI Mercer’s Board President.
About PCTV’s Tender Selection Criteria
Video vision / Our video will address the family experience with mental illness.Usage vision / Our video will be used to increase public understanding and empathy for families in the maelstrom of mental illness, as well as foster volunteer participation and leadership development in its making, especially of loved ones currently experiencing mental illness.
Time commitment / Our team is committed and will judiciously increase involvement of others as the project unfolds and warrants. The project team will be led by a NAMI Mercer Board Member. To set correct expectations, we respectfully request PCTV’s understanding of our need for occasional scheduling and participation flexibility along the way, as some of our team members will be loved ones actually living with mental illness who sometimes may need accommodation.
Organizational capacity / With 30 years of local history, achievement, and governance, NAMI Mercer is confident that we can muster sufficient capacity for this important project.
Communities served / By dint of their disabilities, sometimes considered “permanent” and thus requiring governmental disability entitlements such as Supplemental Support Income and Medicaid, our loved ones with mental illness are too often situated, not to say stranded, on the lowest rung of the American economic ladder. Mental illness is an unfortunately equal afflictor of all families despite their state or station. Most of our members come from communities of modest means, and many are indigent.
Attachment 1
NAMI Mercer
Additional Information
Vision / We work for a future in which all families and loved ones with mental illness realize their full potential in a respectful and understanding society, specifically meaning:- No stigma attached to mental illness.
- No difference in treatment and insurance coverage between mental and physical illness.
- Complete access for all to the most effective support and services.
- All people with mental illness as full participants in the community.
- Families better prepared and qualified to help.
- All with mental illness able to live and work as independently as possible without professional supports
- All with mental illness thriving with an enhanced quality of life.
- Mercer County as the model of an effective mental health system serving consumers and families.
History / In the early 1980s, several Mercer County families came together to support each other in the challenge of coping with mental illness. It was a difficult time, in which psychiatry even blamed parents for their children’s illnesses. Stigma was rampant; parents were in the dark. The mental health system disdained family members, according them little respect and no voice in the psychiatric treatment of their loved ones.
Fed up, local family members rose up. First titled the Mercer Alliance for the Mentally Ill, NAMI Mercer was incorporated in 1984 with Gloria Blumenthal as president. Later, Chomy and Tom Garces founded an office in their kitchen and offered classes and support for families. They also organized the “Just Friends” social group for loved ones with mental illness, a helpline and education meetings. All are still core programs of NAMI Mercer.
Later, NAMI Mercer families worked for group housing for their affected loved ones, raising funds to purchase two properties for this purpose, subsequently transferred to the stewardship of Catholic Charities in 2005. Meanwhile, NAMI Mercer also worked for awareness and education, convening regular public meetings in the Lawrence Library. NAMI Mercer volunteers also worked for advocacy, commencing the Family Partners monitoring project at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, a vibrant program that continues to this day.
In 1995, NAMI Mercer opened its first office, managed by the Chomyand Tom Garces as full-time volunteer counselors, advisors, office managers, press secretaries, and accountants. In 2001, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recognized NAMI Mercer’s impact and potential with a major grant for office support. The same year, New Jersey Psychiatric Association honored ChomyGarces with its prestigious Citizen of the Year Award. Also in 2001, NAMI Mercer received the Outstanding Local Affiliate Award for its parent organization, National Alliance on Mental Illness. The year 2014 marked NAMI Mercer’s marked 30th anniversary, three decades of critical and effective community service to families and their loved ones in the maelstrom of mental illness.
Today / NAMI Mercer represents over 400 member families and countless others beset by mental illness in our area. With a staff of three and over 70 active volunteers, we provide and promote several important community programs, including:
- NAMI Family To Family: A nationally recognized evidence-based 14 week peer-to-peer family education program eludicating mental illness types, etiology, medications, counseling, coping skills, and wellness.
- NAMI Basics: a free, 6-week education program for parents and family caregivers of children and teens who are experiencing symptoms of or already diagnosed with a mental illness.
- NAMI Parents And Teachers As Allies: a free, on-site presentation series for schools led by community teams consisting of a young adult with a mental health condition, a parent and a teacher.
- Public Education Forums, a free educational series on such topics as “Ask the Doctor”, housing, legal issues, disability supports, Medicaid, latest medical research, multicultural issues, collaborative problem solving, special needs financial planning, and recovery and wellness.
- NAMI Connection: a weekly recovery support group for people living with mental illness in which people learn from others' experiences, share coping strategies, and offer each other encouragement and understanding.
- NAMI Just Friends: a peer-managed social group that offers recreational activities for loved ones with mental illness who are 30 years and older.
- NAMI Becoming Friends: a young adults social group that meets bi-monthly with recreational activities for consumers 18 to 30 years old.
- NAMI In Our Own Voice: A public speaking and presentations program featuring loved ones with direct mental illness experience who share their stories to address and change public attitudes, assumptions, and stereotypes about mental illness.
- NAMI enEspanol: an awareness and education program (in association with NAMI New Jersey) to serve the Hispanic/Latino community in the greater Mercer County area.
- WRAP®, Wellness Recovery Action Plan: An evidence based practice developed by the Copeland Center of Brattleboro, VT, whch helps individuals with mental illness to understand and manage their illness. NAMI Mercer presents two eight week evidence based practice workshops each year.
- The “Walk”: NAMI Mercer’s signature annual public awareness event, each May featuring state, county, and local leaders and a thousand loved ones, family members, and supporters gathered for a morning of purposeful fellowship, public messaging, fundraising, and fun.
Financials / NAMI Mercer was incorporated in 1984. It is a 501c3 non-profit charitable organization. Our latest IRS Form 990 financial statement is attached.
Attachment 2
NAMI Mercer
Proposed Video Project
Additoinal Information
Possible Interviews / The video will include interviews with parents and loved ones about their personal experiences, perhaps even in situ filming of live situations (permissions and sensibilities permitting). The video could also include topic interviews with community providers such as:- Ms. Carol Chambers, NAMI Family to Family instructor, Princeton.
- Mr. Cary Haimer, Peer Counselor and PACT Team member, Catholic Charities Metuchen Diocese, Trenton.
- Dr. William Hayes, local psychiatrist, Hopewell.
- Mr. Jim Romer, President of the New Jersey Mental Health Emergency Screening Association, Long Branch.
- Ms. Joyce Campbell, Director of Communications, Catholic Charities Trenton Diocese, Trenton.
- Ms. Lyn Blecher, Director, Transition Mission Self-Help Center, Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, Trenton.
- Mr. Phil Lubitz, Legislative Director, NAMI New Jersey, North Brunswick.
- Ms. Valerie Mielke, Assistant Commissioner, New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Trenton.
- Mr. Anthony Towns, Director, Justice Involved Services, Oaks Integrated Care, Trenton.
- Mr. Ethan Evans, Counselor, Integrated Family Support Services, Mercer County, Trenton.
- Ms. Sharon Maniece, social worker and housing specialist, Mercer County Board of Social Services, Trenton.
- Michelle Zechner, Professor,Rutgers University Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling Services, Scotch Plains.
Attachment 3
Terminology
A word about terminology... / In our community of interest, although this application and even our organization’s name includes it, the term “mental illness” is considered by many as pejorative and diminishing, an unfortunate relic of an outdated “medical model” concept of care which too often leads to unnecessary objectification and stigmatization of our loved ones in such circumstances.We prefer to address our loved ones not as, for instance, “schizophrenics”, but as “persons with schizophrenia”, not as “behavioral health patients”, but as “persons pursuing recovery, not as “the mentally ill”, but as “persons with psychiatric disabilities”, or even “persons with differences”, etc.
While we recognize for the purposes of our video production the possible need and even dramatic desirability to include “mental illness” in certain descriptors, we always wish to be sensitive to any stigmatizing labels of any individuals. Thus we generally prefer to follow the person-first language guidelines of the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (see: and commend this helpful guide to all with whom we might collaborate.
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