You are not alone.

That's the message the National Alliance on Mental Illness NAMI, has for people with loved ones living with a mental illness. Mary Jouppi of Lindenhurst is on the board of the NAMI Lake County and leads the NAMI Family and Friends Support Group, where caregivers of individuals with mental illness can talk frankly about their challenges. Before she joined NAMI Lake County, she attended a NAMI national conference in Washington D.C. where she said she learned a wealth of information that helped her cope with her daughter who dealt with a mental illness.

What does NAMI provide for Lake County?

The organization provides support, referrals, sources and education for those suffering from a mental illness and their family members.

Most of the support groups are for family members, except for the NAMI Healthy Living Group. That meets weekly, Fridays at 2 [p.m.] at the Lake County Health Department's Behavioral Health Services' Drop-in Center.

The Family-to-Family support group is a free, 12-week course for families, partners and friends of individuals with serious mental illness, taught by trained NAMI family members and caregivers of individuals living with mental illness. The course touches on the emotional responses families have to the trauma of mental illness.

I run the NAMI Family Support group. It's a meeting of caregivers of individuals with a mental illness where family members can talk frankly about their challenges and help one another through their learned wisdom.

NAMI Basics is a free, six-week, peer-directed education program developed specifically for parents of children and adolescents who have either been diagnosed with a serious mental illness or emotional disturbance or who are experiencing symptoms but have not yet been diagnosed.

We have others — Peer-to-Peer, a recovery education course for people with mental illness.

NAMI Connections is for people living with mental illness; they learn from one another and share coping strategies. There's also a Military family support group.

How do you get the word out to the community about all the support groups?

We don't get many people. I don't think people are aware of all that NAMI offers yet. The Family and Friends Support Group meets at the Gurnee Village Hall (325 N. O'Plaine Rd. Gurnee) every second Tuesday of every month at 7 in the evening. We're working on getting a different location that may attract more people in the future.

Do you think it's the stigma of mental illness that keeps people from getting help and their loved ones from joining such support groups?

I do. We have to separate the person from the illness. Just because you have depression in 2008 it deosn't mean you will have it in 2014. The illness isn't the person, it's just what they have for now.

For example, what causes me trouble may not cause you trouble. I may have coping mechanisms that you don't. For parents, they don't want their children to have a mental problem and they're afraid of the stigma that at school they may be labeled. It's hard to know where to turn.

Do you think people should talk about their mental illness?

It's up to the individual. By telling their story, they may get more support and it's not something they'll have to deal with forever, for most people that' the case. So, that's important to remember. They say the brain is the last frontier. If you scrape your arm you can see it. If your brain is bruised you can't, but we're finding out more with brain imaging and finding out what works and what doesn't. Once we do that, we can find more ways to heal.

How many people make up NAMI Lake County now?

We're expanding. I think in the last year huge progress has been made in spreading the word. It takes a team of dedicated people working together and we have about a dozen really comintted people on the board and they do it out of the kindness of their heart. We're growing.

What can you tell me about your experience with your daughter?

The law states that if a person is an adult, a doctor can't share any information. So, you can have your child living with you and in therapy. If they haven't signed something saying it's OK for their doctor to talk to you, parents aren't told anything; they just won't know. When we were dealing with my daughter, we weren't told anything; we were in the dark. It's a protection for the patient. It's a paradox because it's good in some instances so the person seeking help has their privacy, if they didn't, they may not get the help thinking their situation will get out. It's all about the stigma. If you don't have that law in place, people are not willing to come forward.

It's really important, too, that if anyone is speaking about their loved one, that they have their permission. My daughter has given me permission to speak about it.

Lake County has a large Spanish-speaking community. Are there any support groups in Spanish?

We really need that. We're trying to start a family to family group in Spanish. Last year we had a presentation but no one showed up. I have partnered with Waukegan High School and this year a panel of people who have dealt with mental illness will tell their stories and a translator will be there.

We'll refer people who are interested to the Kenosha NAMI. They are offering a Family-to-Family class in January and if people are interested in that and attend, then hopefully they'll see the value and get trained, then come back to Lake County. We're putting it out to the community, too. If there's anyone who wants to take the weekend training and be in a Spanish group, we would like to have that. Anyone who is interested would be encouraged to attend the class so they know how it goes and really get the experience of a 12-week course.

Are there any upcoming events or programs?

The first Wednesday in November we'll have a panel of people talking about different programs that treat veterans. I believe we'll have a few veterans speak and tell their story, too.

For more information, visit www.namilake-il.org or call 847-249-1515