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NAMI’s Fourth Annual African American Forum on Mental Health
Awareness
Sojourner’s Truth Staff
The National Alliance on
Mental Illness (NAMI) of Greater Toledo held its fourth
annual African American Forum on Saturday, October 22, from
9 a.m. to 3///;30 p.m. at Glenwood Lutheran Church on Monroe
Street and dozens of family members gathered to glean
information on coping with the various aspects of the
disease.
Rev. Timothy Clark, pastor
of Harvest Christian Center, opened the event with a welcome
and a prayer and Alexis Means, news anchor and journalist at
WTVG Channel 13, served as mistress of ceremonies.
During the morning
session, parents of those afflicted with mental illness
shared their stories of coping with their youngsters. Deidre
Washington, Jenelle Jones and Andre Tiggs spoke out about
how their lives have been impacted.
They were followed by
LaShanna Alfred, a licensed independent social worker and
clinical director at New Concepts. Alfred, who teaches
social work classes at The University of Toledo, spoke of
the fundamentals of mental illness from the social worker’s
perspective.
Then came breakout
stations before lunch which addressed the issues of:
specific mental illnesses, crisis intervention and drug
response, assessments, medications and therapy, living with
mental illness, positive choices over violence and embracing
and restoring the family.
During the afternoon
session, the keynote address was delivered by Bishop Michael
Carter, pastor of Praise City Worship Center Detroit and
Praise City Toledo. Carter, who has a bachelors of science
in psychology along with a masters and doctorate of
Practical Theology, spoke of how faith communities can speak
out on issues of mental health.
The African American Forum
is a collaboration of NAMI and the Alpha Kappa Alpha
Sorority, Inc.
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