The San Diego affiliate of NAMI began in the early 1970s as a group called “Parents of Adult Schizophrenics.” These parents met around their kitchen tables to give each other support in this era during which parents were thought to be the cause of their children’s mental illness. In 1978, the chapter incorporated. That same year, the California Alliance on Mental Illness (now NAMI California) was also incorporated while the following year the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) was incorporated and is now headquartered in Arlington, VA. Our San Diego group became San Diego Alliance for the Mentally Ill in the 1980s and NAMI San Diego in 2000.
Today, our affiliate has over 400 members.
While many NAMI affiliates have only a phone number, NAMI San Diego has an office that houses paid operations staff and the volunteers who staff the phone service. NAMI San Diego has a Helpline which is located in the Albright Center. It was named after a client, Jim Albright, who, in 1984, raised the need for a center to Dr. Robert Moore, Medical Director of Mesa Vista Hospital. Dr. Moore arranged for the Vista Hill Foundation to make a monetary contribution that was matched by a federal block grant back through the County of San Diego in 1985.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness in San Diego (NAMI San Diego) is the community’s voice on mental illness. We are a part of grass-roots, nonprofit, national NAMI organization, and also an affiliate of NAMI California. NAMI San Diego was founded in 1978 by family members of people with mental illness.
We have a threefold mission:
Support people with mental illnesses and their families by helping them find coping mechanisms for their daily struggle with brain disorders.
Educate people who have mental illness, their families, and the general public about mental illness with the goal of dispelling ignorance and stigma.
Advocate for more research and an improved system of mental health services across the nation.
At the heart of NAMI San Diego’s mission is the sharing of information and striving to end the stigma associated with mental illness. To this end, we offer a Helpline, support groups, educational meetings, newsletters, a lending library and a number of classes on mental illness held at various locations throughout San Diego County.