BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – The National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, wants to make sure people know about available resources during Mental Health Awareness Month.
NAMI provides support, education, and advocacy to millions of people facing mental health struggles. The organization serves residents across the country and also has affiliates in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Ruston, the Shreveport area, and the New Orleans area.
The many resources offered by NAMI include support group meetings. They provide people with a sense of community and help make sure no one feels alone. The meetings are free and open to anyone living with a mental health condition and their family members.
According to NAMI, their mission is to also continue to break some of the stigma still associated with mental health.
“We basically just want to bring awareness that mental health matters,” said Trinity Jackson, the social media manager for NAMI in Louisiana. “All of us have mental health, even those who may not feel like they do. We do, and it’s okay to talk about it. It is an uncomfortable conversation, but it is a conversation that needs to be had.”
While those dealing with mental health can get support through group gatherings, NAMI also works to reach people in need in other ways.
“We also do a lot of training and presentations across the state to different populations,” said Corrine Saintiche, the development director for NAMI Louisiana. “We’ve even worked with the National Kidney Foundation. So, we have a lot of strategic partnerships as well.”
Another option for people in need of support is the upcoming NAMI Louisiana state conference, which is expected to take place on June 26, 2026, at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in East Baton Rouge Parish.
“We want to see you all there. We want to bring awareness to things that people don’t know about or just basically share and have an open room to where people can feel comfortable having those conversations, asking those questions that they may not know where to ask,” Jackson explained.
Advocates, providers, healthcare workers will be at the NAMI state conference. Attendees can also expect to hear from speakers about topics like domestic violence and bringing communities together.
The state conference is open to the public.
For anyone in need of mental health support, there is help available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can call 988 to speak with a mental health professional.
For more information about NAMI Louisiana, click here.
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