Bakersfield College and the National Alliance on Mental Illness partnered to bring an awareness conference to the BC campus in an effort to educate students about the realities of mental health issues and how they affect the community and the families involved. The conference was held in the Forum, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sept. 27.
The conference was titled, “The Power of Hope,” and focused on spirituality and how it can strengthen hope for the individuals affected by mental illnesses. In addition to mental health education, attendees listened to testimonies from members of the community that have been living with, and are overcoming, their mental illnesses.
Russ Sempell, president of the Kern County Affiliate for NAMI, spoke about NAMI and the organization’s desire to educate students and put a face to transparent ailments that get overlooked by the community.
“This is a forum that allows us to have our members, like youth, family members and veterans that are coming to [BC] to tell their stories and how NAMI is available as a resource for the community, and, it’s always free – nothing in NAMI ever has a charge.”
Sempell further explained how NAMI’s mission of “support, education and advocacy” is engaged in the Bakersfield community and also how they are a non-profit organization that keeps all of the money raised through fundraisers and donations local and solely for the people of Kern County.
“We’re a local grassroots organization of a state and national organization, and Kern County is the local affiliate. What we do as an organization, that is all volunteers, is we provide free support and educational classes and conferences for people that have loved ones that have mental health issues or individuals themselves with mental health issues,” said Sempell.
Though the focus of the message is to promote spirituality, Sempell said that it is not an attempt to promote any religion or religious ideology but rather to see spirituality as an opportunity to strengthen one’s hope.
“We’re not affiliated with any religious organization; most of our members are Christians, but not all. Some are atheist or agnostics and regardless of what people’s religious position is, or not, we don’t care – we’re focusing on the power of hope and the need in every single one of us to never give up hope, regardless of the barriers and challenges they’ve experienced in life, including horrible medical conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder,” Sempell said.
Sempell illustrated his position about educating the community with an example of someone with a visible, physical handicap as opposed to someone with a mental affliction and how they may be perceived in the community.
“When someone is a paraplegic, for example, an Iraq war vet who’s lost his legs – an amputee – everybody knows and thinks, ‘Oh man, he needs our support. He’s got a challenge ahead of him.’ But when they’re invisible wounds like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, you can’t see them, they look normal and people think, ‘You should be able to do something,’ and people judge.
“So what this conference talks about is how we all have that desire to live the best quality of life we can with support – and religious support is OK too,” Sempell said.
To learn more about NAMI’s causes and their efforts to support families and individuals with mental health illnesses, visit the Kern County Affiliate’s Web site at www.namikerncounty.org.