Through the Years, 1979-2019

During the 1970s, family support groups scattered around the nation were seeking answers and treatments for their loved ones affected by mental illness. One group in California transformed a small gathering of families into an organization called Parents of Adult Schizophrenics, a nonprofit association that eventually changed its name to the Alliance for the Mentally Ill of San Mateo.

This local coming together helped spur a national movement. What started as a wave of frustrated parents concerned for their children grew into a tsunami of organized trailblazers advocating for more research, greater support and broader public awareness called the National Alliance on Mental Illness: The nation's largest grassroots mental health organization.

Follow our journey as we capture some of the many milestones in advocacy, research, education and awareness achieved over the past 40 years!

NAMI Through the years timeline 1979-2019
NAMI Through the years timeline 1979-2019
 

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