Mangenheimer’s research led him to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), one of the country’s most effective grassroots not-for-profit organizations. NAMI advocates, educates, and provides services for individuals and families affected by mental illness.

“NAMI is a phenomenal resource for those who walk out of the psychiatric ward of a hospital, are told that their child is paranoid schizophrenic, and have no idea what that means,” he says. Its members include parents, extended family members, and adults who have older parents with mental illnesses.

For the past ten years, Mangenheimer has served on the Board of Directors of the local NAMI affiliate in Long Beach, one of 12 chapters in Los Angeles County. Long Beach is also home to groundbreaking resources, such as the MHA Village — an award-winning Mental Health America of Los Angeles program that provides recovery-based services — as well as strong advocates within the City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services and the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.

It is a network of dedicated people who work to provide treatment for individuals, support family members who also are caregivers, and break through public stigmas to promote understanding and respect.

“Mental health issues actually cover a broad spectrum — from someone who has a diagnosed mental health condition to someone who is just struggling,” says Patti LaPlace, the Mental Health Coordinator for the City of Long Beach. “Mental health issues really impact so many different people at so many different levels.”

NAMI estimates that one in five families are affected by mental illness, defined as a medical condition that disrupts the ability to function on a daily basis and the capacity to cope with the ordinary demands of life.

Mental illness even affects those in the public eye. Nancy Foster, wife of Long Beach Mayor, Bob Foster, was diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder at the age of 35. “It’s important to remember that no one is exempt from mental illness,” she says. “It affects people and children from all walks of life. It can also sneak into our life at any age and under any condition.”

With proper diagnosis and medication, Foster saw an improvement after 11 years of severe depression and anxiety. “It was then also, that my husband appreciated the severity of my problem — he saw the difference in my quality of life,” she says of the impact on her loved ones. “Mental illness affects the entire family. I wasn’t always able to enjoy what the rest of the family was enjoying; at times, our life and our decisions revolved around how I was feeling.”

Professionals like LaPlace work directly with family members to help them find services within the city or to guide them to other organizations. Families often find the search for information frustrating and isolating. “If someone is hitting brick walls, I will always try to advocate for them and find different options,” LaPlace says. “We live in challenging times, so it’s important that we connect people with services right away. We want to be very proactive with the services they need.”

Cathy Williamson is a Parent Advocate with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health in Long Beach and has first-hand knowledge of what parents go through.

Ten years ago, Williamson’s now 29-yearold son was diagnosed with schizophrenia. She has dealt with the Long Beach Police Department’s Mental Evaluation Team at her home and her son’s 13 stays in the hospital. Williamson now works with 50 to 60 clients a month, and links individuals and caregivers with mental health providers and other support organizations. She also will accompany parents to schools for special education meetings or to hospitals when a child is diagnosed as a danger to themselves or others.

Williamson works directly with four navigators, or trained clinicians and licensed social workers, who are the first point of contact for anyone calling the County’s Long Beach office. Each navigator specializes in serving clients by age group: children to 15 years old, transition age youth from 16 to 25 years of age, adults, and older adults aged 59 and higher.

Like Mangenheimer, she is in a position to offer assistance and expertise. “From my experience, I can now help other families and navigate them through the system,” she says. “When I’m talking to a family members and I tell them I have a son who is mentally ill, I can find out a lot more. “I was lost myself, and if I can help make it easier on caregivers, I have a heart for them. You feel like you’re out in the ocean and the waves get bigger and bigger and no ship comes by to help.”

Providing caregivers with information and answers is where organizations like NAMI really make a difference. Family-to-Family is NAMI’s 12-week education program, led by trained individuals who themselves have loved ones with mental illnesses. Each Family-to-Family class has about 20 people, and session topics include current information on mental illnesses and medications, research on effective treatments, techniques on handling crises and communication, and helping caregivers cope with stress and emotional overload.

NAMI also takes an active role in dealing with the stigmas and misconceptions that surround mental illness. “I can put myself there years ago when I used to see someone on the street, I wouldn’t give them the time of day,” says Williamson, who has been a Board member of NAMI since 2004 and speaks on mental health panels as both a Parent Advocate and a family member. “Now that my son is mentally ill, I know they are someone’s family member, someone’s mother or father.”

One of the most common stigmas is not realizing that mental illness is a disease that can be treated. It’s a stigma that keeps people from receiving the services they need. NAMI works to break through stigmas with highvisibility events such as the NAMI Walk in October, and its ongoing Stigma Buster program, that actively identifies inaccurate representations in the media and works to educate the public on mental health issues.

“Breaking through stigmas can be as simple as sharing positive stories,” offers LaPlace. “People’s perception of a mental condition is that the person is out of control or they’re violent and choose to be that way. We don’t hear about the positive things, that people can live productive lives.”

It’s a message that Foster communicates in her speaking and writing engagements throughout the city. “It’s only by being open and sharing these difficult times that will make a difference,” she says, of helping to alleviate the stigma associated with mental illness. “This will eventually have a positive ripple effect. We will be more tolerant of people struggling with mental illness and our quality of care will improve.”

Mangenheimer, LaPlace, and Williamson have all seen improvements over the years. The passage of California state Proposition 63 in 2004 greatly expanded communitybased mental health services and programs, creating a strong infrastructure that now includes those government positions that help find services for those in need.

LaPlace now works to create a seamless connection to services with a “no wrong door” approach, where individuals, parents or caregivers can walk into an accessible environment and be referred to appropriate services. “I look at service gaps and how we can build some bridges,” says LaPlace who spends a lot of time problem-solving with clients on the phone and is always researching, networking, and learning about new programs.

Mangenheimer is also working to expand NAMI’s local services with the introduction of two new programs. A nine-week Peer-to- Peer program, structured much like Familyto- Family, has individuals with a mental illness mentoring other individuals with mental illnesses about their medical condition. A second program, In Our Own Voice, is a speakers bureau that features individuals with mental illnesses who share their stories with the community.

NAMI estimates that up to 90 percent of individuals diagnosed with serious mental illnesses experience a significant reduction in symptoms and an improved quality of life with proper treatment and support. In Long Beach that support can be found throughout the community – from the county to the city, in its not-forprofit organizations and through its citizens.

“We all want to promote the concept of healthy mind and healthy body, and recognize the role of good mental health,” says LaPlace. “It does make Long Beach a healthier place to live, work and play.”



Mental illnesses are biologically-based brain disorders. They cannot be overcome through “will power” and are not related to a person’s “character” or intelligence.

One in four adults — approximately 57.7 million Americans — experience a mental health disorder in a given year. One person in seventeen lives with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder, and about one child in ten have a serious mental or emotional disorder.

About 2.4 million Americans, or 1.1 percent of the adult population, lives with schizophrenia.

Bipolar disorder affects 5.7 million American adults, approximately 2.6 percent of the adult population per year.

Major depressive disorder affects 6.7 percent of adults, or about 14.8 million American adults. According to the 2004 World Health Report, this is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and Canada in ages between 15 to 44.

Anxiety disorders, which include panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), generalized anxiety disorder, and phobias, affect about 18.1 percent of adults, an estimated 40 million individuals. Anxiety disorders frequently co-occur with depression or addiction disorders.

An estimated 5.2 million adults have cooccurring mental health and addiction disorders. Of adults using homeless services, thirty-one percent reported having a combination of these conditions.

Half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14, three-quarters by age 24. Despite effective treatments, there are long delays — sometimes decades — between first onset of symptoms and when people seek and receive treatment.

The World Health Organization has reported that four of the ten leading causes of disability in the U.S. and other developed countries are mental disorders. By 2020, Major Depressive Illness will be the leading cause of disability in the world for women and children.

In the U.S., the annual economic, indirect cost of mental illnesses is estimated to be $79 billion. Most of that amount — approximately $63 billion — reflects the loss of productivity as a result of illnesses.

”Simply put, treatment works, if you can get it. But in America today, it is clear that many people living with the most serious and persistent mental illnesses are not provided with the essential treatment they need.” – Michael J. Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of NAMI National, Grading the States, 2006

Info from nami.org



National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
nami.org
562.435.2264

City of Long Beach
Department of Health and Human Services
longbeach.gov/health
562.570.4000

L.A. County Department of Mental Health
dmh.lacounty.gov
800.854.7771