Centennial Hills resident aims to remove stigma from illness

For Centennial Hills resident Sue Gaines, it was the hospital social worker she met after her daughter's suicide attempt who changed her family's life. She gave Gaines the phone number for NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Gaines didn't speak at her first support group meeting 10 years ago. Listening to others, she realized they had experienced the same pain as her family. The next week she brought her husband, Rollin, to a Family to Family support class, and they have been involved with NAMI ever since.

"So much stigma is attached to mental illness," Gaines said. It wasn't until her daughter's second suicide attempt at age 25 that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. People make excuses for behavior by labeling it as typical teenage rebellion, so the signs of mental illness are often missed.

"Looking back in high school she always wanted to sleep," Gaines said. "They didn't recognize it as depression."

The soft-spoken, once-shy Gaines, 59, has served as president of NAMI of Southern Nevada for the past three years. She becomes animated when she tells the story of Ray, a man in his 70s who came to group meetings for more than a decade even though his schizophrenic daughter had been stable for years. He knew the system and where to get help. He would remind people to keep coming because "people are going to need your help." It is this "group wisdom" that makes the peer-to-peer classes so valuable to people in crisis, Gaines said.

Linda Flatt from the State of Nevada Office of Suicide Prevention said, "The programs provided by NAMI are lifesaving." Flatt said research shows that approximately 90 percent of the people who commit suicide have some diagnosable type of mental illness and accompanying addiction problems.

According to Mental Health America, one in four families is affected by mental illness. Gaines would like people to realize that "people with mental illness are not like they are portrayed in the movies. They are not homicidal maniacs. They are people with an illness, and their illness needs to be treated."

NAMI of Southern Nevada has no paid staff and no office space. All services are offered at no cost and led by volunteers. "We are the best-kept secret in Las Vegas, and we don't want to be," said Gaines. Affiliations with Touro University medical school, 874 American Pacific Drive in Henderson, and the UNLV nursing program are doing much to spread the word. Gaines has been invited to speak to students about the programs available and share insights about how to deal with individuals and families afflicted by mental illness.

Groups are tailored to individuals and families living with mental illness. Support classes are held at three locations around the Las Vegas Valley: Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital, 1650 Community College Drive; Southern Nevada Mental Health Clinic, 1590 W. Sunset Road; and Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services, 720 S. Seventh St., Suite 200. Educational programs for Family-to-Family and Peer-to-Peer groups are taught by NAMI-trained volunteer teachers.

Local psychiatrist Dr. Marian Orr stressed the importance of NAMI in the "big picture." NAMI keeps individuals in crisis out of emergency rooms and reduces costs to taxpayers. Knowing Gaines as a NAMI volunteer for 10 years and its president three, Orr considers her a true unsung hero. "In her kind and gentle way, Sue Gaines has worked tirelessly to reduce the stigma of mental illness in our community," said Orr.

NAMI of Southern Nevada works closely with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team (C.I.T). Implemented in 2003, Gaines has helped with the training of more than 600 officers and personnel to respond to "individuals with mental illness in a respectful manner de-escalate the situation and provide an alternative other than arrest."

To bring attention to National Mental Health Month in May, the second annual C.I.T. Emmissaries vs Harlem Ambassadors basketball game is scheduled for May 4 at Cimarron-Memorial High School, 2301 N. Tenaya Way. All proceeds will benefit NAMI of Southern Nevada.

In a national report card, Nevada received a D-minus in NAMI's 2009 Grading the States Report. In Basic Measures such as programs, emergency wait times and the number of psychiatric beds, Nevada received an F; in Financing and Core Treatment, a D; Consumer and Family Access to Information, a D; and Community Integration, an F.

One of few bright spots on the Grading the States Report was the recognition of the Eighth Judicial District Court's Mental Health Court. Opened in December 2003 and funded by a $150,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, it focuses on diverting non-violent offenders with mental illness into treatment programs. The goal of the court is "to reduce or eliminate offender recidivism by treating their mental illness." Participation in NAMI by the court is often suggested but not mandated, Gaines said. Because of budget cuts, this court's longevity is precarious.

When asked how much longer she plans to volunteer at NAMI, Gaines said, "It's not something that I can ever walk away from it's become a part of me."

For more information on NAMI of Southern Nevada, call 310-5764, email sue@leelasvegas.com, visit namisouthernnvada.org or go to its offices at 2251 N. Rampart Blvd., No. 126.

Tickets for the Emissaries-Harlem Ambassadors basketball game can be purchased online at namisouthernnevada.org. For more information, contact Mike Brooks at 501-3657 or namisnv@yahoo.com .