HURON — You are not alone. That message rang clear for members of the local NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) group who attended the state NAMI Conference in Spearfish in September.
Funding for the trip was made possible by the Iroquois High School HOSA-Future Health Professionals Chapter, which gave $900 to the NAMI-Huron group last March as part of the organization’s national service project. Money left over from the HOSA gift will be used to send individuals to the 2018 NAMI Conference scheduled in Watertown.
NAMI is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for millions of Americans affected by mental illness.
“It’s nice to correlate with people who have mental illness and learn more about your illness,” said Jacinta “JC” Konechne, who attended the conference with Geanina Rehmeier and Community Counseling Services staff member Lisa Washechek, who helps lead the local NAMI meetings.
Konechne was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder when she was 17.
“It gets jumbled, many call it major depression with psychosis,” said Konechne, who will be 40 in December. “I was ashamed of my depression. Being able to communicate and have a plan for myself has helped.”
Rehmeier said information on self advocacy that was shared at the conference really spoke to her.
“How can I cope and have confidence and be able to speak about my diagnosis without being ashamed,” she said. “When I first came here I was worried to tell about it. Being able to communicate and have a plan for myself has helped.”
Rehmeier was born in Romania and raised in an orphanage, where children were punished for crying or showing emotions.
When she was adopted and brought to the United States, the trauma of her past had already deeply affected her. She was diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder, a rare condition that arises from a failure to form normal attachments to primary caregivers in early childhood.
Learning to speak English was one obstacle after joining a family, but the greatest obstacle has been learning to trust that others will be there for her.
“My parents would often tell me, ‘It will be OK,’ but it took a long time for me to believe that,” Rehmeier said. “With adolescent social disconnect, my behavior increased and changed through addiction and things like that.”
Rehmeier said her goal is to become trained through NAMI to talk about her journey and recovery through a program called “In Our Own Voice.”
There are more than 200 classified forms of mental illness, and the most common are depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and anxiety disorders.
Washechek, who has worked at CCS for five years, said two individuals in her family have been diagnosed with a mental illness.
“Hearing people talk of their journey through this really helped me,” Washechek said. “People aren’t alone. It helps to know someone else can normalize this.
“In the adolescent program, one of the quotes is it shouldn’t hurt to be a child,” she added. “A lot of this starts in childhood. Breaking the cycle of child abuse was very enlightening.”
The overall focus of the conference was on suicide prevention. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S., the third leading cause of death for people ages 10-14, and the second leading cause of death for people ages 15-24.
“Most suffer in silence,” Washechek said. “If you don’t ask they won’t tell you. One of the key words is to ask.”
The local NAMI-Huron group meets the third Wednesday of each month from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Drop In Center, 255 Iowa Ave. S.E. Call Lois at 350-9516 for more information.
Photo:
In attendance at the state NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Conference in Spearfish were, from left, Jacinta Konechne, Lisa Washechek and Geanina Rehmeier. A gift from Iroquois High School HOSA-Future Health Professionals Chapter to the local NAMI group helped fund the trip. Remaing funds will be used to send individuals to the 2018 Conference in Watertown.
