NAMI Havre holding virtual and in-person walk to raise awareness of mental illness

The National Alliance on Mental Illness’s Havre Branch will be holding a 5K walk Sept. 20 to raise money and awareness for the issue of mental health along with the nationwide organization they are part of.

NAMI Havre President Crystal Laufer said instead of going to Helena for the walk like they normally would, NAMI Havre will be doing a 5K walk in Havre itself.

Originally, the event was going to feature only the branch’s board members walking, but Laufer said it has since been decided that the public could walk with them provided everyone can social distance.

She doesn’t anticipate that there will be a huge amount of people who decide to walk in person, so they haven’t established a limit on the amount of people that can participate.

Laufer said they are going to do the walk live on NAMI Havre’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/namihavre so people in Helena and other places in Montana can see the walk.

“We’re going to have fun,” Laufer said, “And if anyone is dealing with a mental illness or has a family member or friend that is, just come out and walk with us.”

Laufer said they set up a booth at the Summer Nights Vendor Fair this past month and it went very well.

“We had several people come up and talk to us about our classes wanting to know more information,” she said. “ … We’re crossing our fingers that in January we can start our classes.”

She said NAMI Havre would also have a booth open during Festival Days at the mall this coming weekend from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

NAMI Havre has been taking donations for the event via their Facebook page, but also accepts other forms of donation including checks made out to NAMI Havre, and Laufer said this year they’ve received far more in donations than previous ones having collected over $800.

“This is a lot more than we were expecting,” she said, “The previous years we’ve done it we’ve made maybe 200 to 300. … This is a really good year.”

Laufer said she thinks the pandemic, which has been a source of significant stress for many people already dealing with a mental illness, has boosted peoples’ awareness of how common mental illness can be and the effects it has especially on young people, leading to increased exposure for her organization.

“I think people are finally realizing there are more mental illnesses out there,” she said. “With the virus and everything playing havoc on our younger kids now I think they’re looking at it and going ‘Oh, maybe NAMI would be a good thing to look into.’”

Laufer said she’s heard people say they had no idea that NAMI was even in Havre despite it having been in the town for 17 years, and she’s glad that something good has come out of an otherwise tragic event like the pandemic.

She said despite the complications caused by COVID-19 she thinks it’s still important to make events like this happen to show support for those who have to deal with mental illnesses.

“We should show our support to our family and friends,” she said.

Laufer said the organization is still accepting donations, which can be given via mail to PO Box 786. She said they are also accepting donations in person at their table in Pepin Park.

She said money from these donations are split between the national organization, NAMI Montana in Helena and NAMI Havre.

In an interview in July, Laufer said NAMI Havre still gets most of its books and other educational material from Helena, but she hopes one day Havre will have enough money that they won’t need to do that anymore.

“My dream is that we won’t have to go through Helena, because we’ll have money one day and we’ll be able to order our own,” she said.

Laufer said this week she hopes NAMI Havre will be able to have its own walk independent of the larger nationwide walk someday.

She said despite concerns related to COVID-19 she’s looking forward to seeing how this year’s walk plays out.

“I’m really excited to see how many people come out to support us,” she said. “ … I’d like to see all of Havre come out and support us but I know that won’t happen.”