by Matt Kuntz
- We focus on improving the lives of people who live with serious mental illnesses, including children who may be experiencing symptoms of mental illness but do not have a diagnosis, not general mental health issues.
- We seek to spread our message and programs across Montana, including areas and/or population groups that may be challenging for geographical and/or cultural reasons.
- We believe that these illnesses should be treated by a qualified medical team as soon as possible.
- We are not a medical treatment provider organization. We must maintain our operational and policy independence from medical treatment provider organizations.
- Our family education and support programs are absolutely critical because no one else will effectively teach and support these families if we do not.
- We seek to engage in challenging and untraditional policy issues that affect the lives of people with serious mental illnesses.
- All public-facing computer applications should be easy to update and should be updated often.
- The majority of our staff should be consumers and family members.
- We try to give consumers and family members the tools to find resources on their own, not have us directing them to the resources.
- We are a science-based organization. It is our job to keep Montana’s consumers, families, policy makers and the public informed about the most recent development in the science of mental illness.
- We try not to separate consumers and family members according to diagnosis.
- Seventy percent or more of our funds should come from private individuals and businesses, not the government.
- We support civil rights, but understand that people who live with serious mental illnesses may not be able to safely exercise those rights when they are severely symptomatic.
- We try to maximize the participation of individual consumers and families in effective political advocacy, regardless of their specific positions.
- The NAMIWalk is essential to our success in fundraising, education, and advocacy. The tasks to put on the Walk must be given a high priority.
- We believe that is critical that the mental illness treatment system be measured and reported on in a way that is easily and quickly accessed by consumers, family members, providers, insurers, and policy makers.
- We need to send out at least one mass communication per month.
- We believe that treating mental illnesses should be the focus of suicide prevention campaigns.
- We should have enough funds in our accounts at all times to cover one year’s operating budget.
- We expect that our singular focus on finding the most effective care for people who live with serious mental illnesses will isolate us from organizations that provide a substandard level of care.
