Virtual Challenge and In-Person 5k Run/Walk. Kick off date for Early Registration is August 1, 2025 with In-Person event to take place on Saturday, October 18, 2025
NAMI Emerald Coast serving Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton Counties, provides support and education for the family, friends and caregivers of individuals living with a mental health condition, giving a voice to those who seek a path to enhanced services. We also offer support and advocate for those in our communities who suffer. Currently, one in four Americans are impacted by a mental health condition and one in twenty by a severe mental health condition. Many do not seek treatment because of the stigma attached to this devastating disease and many do not know where to turn.
NAMI Emerald Coast is an affiliate of National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the largest grassroots, non-profit, mental health organization in America. We are staffed by volunteers and all donations are tax deductible. All of our programs are free to the public. We offer two Virtual Family Support Group meetings and one in-person Family Support Group meeting each month for family, friends and caregivers of individuals living with a mental health condition; and 8 Connection Recovery Support Group meetings each month for those with a lived experience of a mental health condition. We offer our 8-week Peer to Peer Class and Family to Family Education Classes 2-3 times yearly in the spring, and fall. and we have recently added an in-person Men's Support Group. For more information on additional classes and support groups visit: Namiec.org
Funds raised by the "Ending the Silence" 5k Run/Walk in 2025 enables us to train facilitators and leaders for our Peer to Peer and Family to Family Education classes, Family Support Group and Connection Recovery Support Group and presenters for our In Our Own Voice presentation and Sharing Our Stories with Law Enforcement. In January 2023, we added FaithNet to bring Mental Health awareness to our faith community and in July 2023 we started our conversation series, Sharing Hope with Minority Communities. In April 2025, we completed our second very successful Sharing Hope, 3-part conversation series and are already beginning our third series. As part of the Mental Health Task Force Strategic Plan, NAMI Emerald Coast has successfully trained over 200 Peers in H.O.H. (Helping Others Heal) W.R.A.P. Seminar I and II, and are hoping to host our first A.L.F. Advanced Lead Facilitator Training which will sustain our recertification for all W.R.A.P. Facilitators for years to come. NAMI is training a Nation of Peers with lived experience who will walk with others on their journey of recovery. And in 2025, we have added Structured Family Recovery® for families and loved-ones working their recovery together.
But most importantly, through advocacy we seek to raise awareness of the challenges of our friends and loved ones living so bravely with mental health conditions and substance use disorders. Underserved, misunderstood and at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of public dollars allocated for research and cutting-edge treatment, our friends and loved ones deserve better. Florida ranks 46th nationwide in 2025 on access to mental health care and Escambia County's drug overdose rate has been more than double the state average in recent years. This is your opportunity to add your voice to those calling for change.
EscaRosa Suicide Prevention Coalition exists to eliminate suicide in our community. We are a dedicated group of community stakeholders working together to transform our community through raising awareness, increasing knowledge and skills, and implementing strategic interventions for suicide prevention.
Since 2018, EscaRosa Suicide Prevention Coalition have engaged over 50 organizations, including most of the areas healthcare systems, law enforcement agencies, school districts, higher education institutions, mental health and substance use disorder organizations along with youth and veteran serving organizations and individuals with lived experience. We have reviewed local data, implemented support groups, facilitated vital collaborations, as well as increased the number and impact of mental health and suicide prevention trainings.
One of our greatest accomplishments has been working with one of our partners, United Way of West Florida, to engage with the national resource, Crisis Text Line, to provide a community keyword (GULF) for the panhandle, which gives our community another way to seek help, while providing the coalition with the much-needed data on mental health in our area.
Currently we are targeting interventions for youth and veterans, as well as bringing awareness and resources to the community related to suicide prevention and crisis intervention.
Join us in Ending the Silence on Saturday, October 18, 20245at UWF by supporting the 2025 NAMI Emerald Coast and EscaRosa Suicide Prevention Coalition 5K Virtual Challenge and In Person Run/Walk, as a sponsor, by forming a team, or individually.
Thank you for making a difference.
Linda Finkelstein, NAMI Emerald Coast
Rachelle Burns, EscaRosa Suicide Prevention Coalition
