NAMI offers help with mental illness issues

• Hackel and Van Dusartz

Co-President Denise Hackel, left, and board member Kathryn Van Dusartz are actively involved in the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) St. Croix Valley affiliate in St. Croix and Pierce counties. They want residents to be aware of the free services of the grassroots mental health organization. -- Photo by Jon Echternacht

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For people in St. Croix and Pierce counties with mental health issues or those of a family member, there is cost-free help from a local organization.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is a grass roots mental health organization committed to building hope for all those in need.

“The St. Croix Valley affiliate offers crisis intervention team training, family education, peer-to-peer and support group programs,” said Denis Hackel, co-president along with Patricia Cederholm, of the local organization.

“There are 30 to 40 members of the St. Croix Valley affiliate,” said Hackel, “and we can always use more volunteers.”

“We are available to everybody in need,” said Kathryn Van Dusartz, a member of the board of directors, “and most important, it is free.”

The group has a monthly business meeting gathering at 4:30 p.m. on the last Thursday of the month in the cafeteria of River Falls Hospital and open to the public. Support groups meet every two weeks, said Van Dusartz.

“Sometimes it doesn’t take very much support to make a difference,” said Van Dusartz, who is a mental health therapist with Pierce County.

Hackel, on the other hand, is the parent of a child with mental illness. “I have a 25-year-old daughter who has a personality disorder,” Hackel said.

Hackel said her daughter was about four-years-old when there was a radical change in behavior and she was diagnosed with mental illness.

For more please read the March 28 print version of the Herald.

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