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NAMI Vermont tells House Healthcare Committee about peer-led supports, school outreach and crisis referrals
Summary
Laurie Emerson, executive director of NAMI Vermont, told the House Healthcare Committee that the statewide nonprofit runs volunteer-led support and education programs, school presentations and a warmline, and that about half its funding comes from the Vermont Department of Health.
Laurie Emerson, executive director of NAMI Vermont, told the House Healthcare Committee that the statewide chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness runs free, volunteer-led support, education and advocacy programs and provides a statewide warmline for people seeking mental-health resources.
"NAMI Vermont is the independent Vermont chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness," Emerson said. "Our core competency is our lived experience, whether we're family members or individuals with a mental health condition." She told the committee the organization trains volunteers to run support groups and classes and coordinates virtual and in-person meetings across the state.
Emerson described a range of free programs aimed at people with lived experience and their families: family support groups, the eight-week Family-to-Family class, the NAMI Ending the Silence school program for youth, and NAMI In Our Own Voice presentations in which two people share lived-experience stories to reduce stigma. "All of our programs are free. All of our programs are done by trained volunteers," she said.
She gave several operational details: NAMI Vermont has about 75 volunteers statewide, five full‑time staff, and five regional affiliates; the group reported presenting to roughly 4,000 students last year through school programs. Emerson said the organization is partly funded by government support: "Being a nonprofit, we do, we get, 50% of our income is from the Vermont Department of Health. And then we, we raise another 50%." She estimated the organization's budget at about $500,000.
Emerson also discussed crisis and referral work: NAMI Vermont operates a warmline and an 800 number to help family members and individuals find local resources and support, and the organization advocated for and supported implementation of the federal 988 lifeline and statewide suicide-prevention efforts. She offered to provide the committee with an impact report and said NAMI would bring materials — including youth coloring activity books — to an upcoming mental health advocacy day on Jan. 29 at the Vermont Supreme Court House Auditorium.
Committee members asked for additional information about program reach and materials; Emerson said she would provide the impact report and thanked members for their time.
