Tualatin council proclaims May 2025 Mental Health Awareness Month; NAMI urges use of 988 and local supports

The Tualatin City Council on May 12 adopted a proclamation declaring May 2025 as Mental Health Awareness Month and heard a presentation from the local National Alliance on Mental Illness chapter about crisis resources, support groups and public education. Dave Hunt, the local executive director of NAMI, told the council 1 in 5 residents experience a mental health condition and urged residents to use available supports.

The proclamation, read during the council meeting, noted that stigma delays care and that earlier identification and treatment can improve outcomes. The city formally recognized May 2025 “to increase public understanding of the importance of mental health, to promote identification and timely treatment of mental illness, and to cure the resulting stigma and discrimination,” the proclamation states.

“1 in 5 residents of your city and of our country have some kind of a mental health condition,” Dave Hunt said. He highlighted a state/local suicide death rate he cited as 18.6 per 100,000 and said that, while that number is higher than the national rate he cited, it has been slowly declining in recent years. He urged people to look for changes in behavior and to “get outside your comfort zone and act.”

Hunt described 988, the national mental health crisis line that launched three years ago, and said callers are connected to mental health professionals rather than law enforcement. “Only 1 half of 1% of the calls to 988 end up resulting in a dispatch of law enforcement,” he said, adding that mobile crisis response teams are typically unarmed mental health professionals when a dispatch is needed. He also described NAMI’s free peer and family support groups, classes and other programming in Clackamas and Washington counties and promoted a May 18 Parenting and Mental Health Conference at the Tualatin Public Library.

Councilors thanked Hunt and NAMI volunteers and asked clarifying questions about advocacy and services. Councilor Brooks noted NAMI’s legislative and case-based advocacy, including work on civil commitment law changes and mobile crisis funding. Councilor Hiller highlighted that 988 accepts text messages as well as calls and urged residents to ask direct questions of people they fear may be self-harming, citing QPR training guidance.

The proclamation was introduced and adopted during the meeting; the text adopted by the council notes that approximately half of chronic mental illness begins by age 14 and that suicide is a leading cause of death for younger adults. Following adoption, the council presented the proclamation to NAMI representatives.