Mailing Address:       NAMI Orange
                                  PO  Box 637
                                  Middletown, NY 10940

Email:                   namiorangeny@warwick.net

Telephone:           845-956-6264  or  toll-free 1-866-906-6264

Website:               www.namiorangeny.org

 FaceBook:           NAMI Orange County, NY

Membership

If you would care to make a donation

THREE MEETING LOCATIONS:

We encourage you to check our website often since new information is being added on a regular basis. You may need to hit the "refresh" symbol on your browser so that the new material will be viewable if you viewed our website on a previous occasion.

History of NAMI Orange

NAMI Orange County, NY -  previously known as NAMI-AMICO, Inc. and as AMICO (Alliance on Mental Illness in the County of Orange), began as a small group of dedicated families who had a family member hospitalized at Middletown Psychiatric Center.

At that time, families who were looking for support had nowhere to turn. Family support programs were non-existent in Orange County. One family, devastated by their son's diagnosis of schizophrenia, asked the hospital if there would be a way to meet other families who also had a family member with a mental illness.

In 1984, Linda Weiser, a concerned family member, joined MPC to bring together families of MPC's patients for the first time. It started as a small group but quickly grew into AMICO. In 1985, these families joined other families throughout the state and became an affiliate of the newly formed "Alliance on Mental Illness of New York".

AMICO's bylaws written by the original families stated that the intent of AMICO was to provide support for families and friends of people with mental illness, advocate for better services, foster research, work to change stereotypes and overcome the stigma associated with chronic mental illness. Also at this time, AMICO and the Mental Health Association in Orange County, Inc. formed a collaboration to help and support families.

In the eighties, many AMICO members found there was little help available to families when there was a crisis. They advocated for a mobile mental health team that would come to "them" when needed. Another family, concerned because no housing program seemed to meet the needs of their family member, advocated to meet this need with non-conventional housing. These advocacy efforts brought Mobile Mental Health and the "Home To Stay Program" to Orange County. Families have also worked together with providers at the county meetings to provide, promote and improve mental health services for their loved ones. NAMI-AMICO was given a designated seat on the County's Community Services Board.

The name AMICO was changed to NAMI-AMICO in September, 1998 when all state affiliates became part of the National Alliance on Mental  Illness (NAMI).

In 2005, as part of an initiative sponsored by NAMI-NYS, NAMI-AMICO became incorporated. The name was again changed in 2016 to NAMI Orange County, NY to be in keeping with NAMI's requirement that all affiliates have as a part of their name the community that they serve.

In addition to our monthly education meetings, our organization is currently providing several programs on an on-going basis. The first four programs listed are NAMI Signature Programs in which the facilitators/presenters/instructors have received specific NAMI training in order to be credentialed:

   -Family To Family: a 12 week (one night/week) NAMI educational program structured to help families and significant others who are caregivers understand and support people with serious mental illness while maintaining their own well-being
   -NAMI Basics:  a 6 week (one night a week) NAMI educational program for parents and family caregivers of children and teens who are experiencing symptoms of a mental illness or whom have already been diagnosed 
   -NAMI Connection: Weekly peer-led support group for people living with a mental illness    
   -NAMI Family Support: Monthly structured support group for families, friends, partners and/or caregivers of adult loved ones (18+) with serious mental illness
   -In Our Own Voice: people with mental health conditions share their  compelling personal stories as an interactive presentation to groups in the
community  
    -Ending the Silence: An in-school presentation designed to teach middle and high school students about the signs and symptoms of mental illness, how to recognize the early warning signs and the importance of acknowledging those warning signs
    -Families Helping Families: a team of NAMI Orange volunteers that provides information to the families of patients in the Behavioral Unit at Orange Regional Medical Center
   -NAMI Orange Outreach: Distributing information to community, hospitals, libraries and events
   -HELPLINE 845-956-6264: NAMI Orange volunteers respond to callers in order to provide information regarding availability of services, support groups, etc.     

NAMI Orange has representation on the following committees:

• Orange County Dept. of Mental Health Community Services Board (CSB) Advisory Board to the Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health
• Joint Membership of Health and Community Agencies (JMHCA)
  Consists of directors of most health agencies in Orange County, both medical and mental health, substance abuse, etc.
• Housing Consortium
  Takes care of housing especially for homeless persons, secures funding, etc. Works closely with homeless shelter: HONORehg
• Single Point of Access (SPOA):
  Committee that places persons with mental health illness in different levels of housing and or programs. Also sets up persons with levels of care management and peer support
• Crisis Intervention Training (CIT):
  Orange County initiative to train police officers and probation departments on how to interact and communicate with a person with mental illness if there is a call or incident requiring law enforcement
• Criminal Justice Advisory Boards
  Committees that are working on policies on how to perform law enforcement and direct persons to get the correct treatment when there is an illness
• Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Hospital:
  Participates in Incident Review Committee to provide feedback from a family's perpective

*NAMI Orange is very grateful for the office space provided to us by
Rehabilitation Support Services, Inc.       

       Mailing Address: NAMI Orange, PO Box 637, Middletown, NY 10940

       Email: namiorangeny@warwick.net

       Telephone: 845-956-6264  or toll-free  1-866-906-6264

       Website: www.namiorangeny.org  

        FaceBook:  NAMI Orange County, NY

        Facebook: NAMI Orange Discussion Group

Meeting locations listed above.