Walk Where You Are to Support our Life Changing Work

Join us to give hope and help to people with mental illness and their loved ones

As a virtual walker you will use email and social media to fundraise and build awareness about the free support groups and education programs NAMI Connecticut provides throughout the state.  

 

If you haven't already registered yourself or your team, today is the day. Here are a few ideas to help you get started:

  •  
  • Commit to walk, run, or bike where you are—whether it’s whether it’s on a treadmill, a stationary bike, or around your neighborhood—anything you can do alone or with the with the members of your household.
  • Register on our walk website
  • Create a virtual team (or walk where you are without one)
  • Use your personal or team pages, social media and email to encourage family, friends, co-workers and neighbors to sponsor you no matter where they live.
  • Let the world know you are walking. Share a link to your walker or team page on social media using #NAMICTWALK2020.
  • The weekend of May 15 to 17, share photos and videos of your walk on social media. Use the #NAMICTWALK2020 and we will share your photos and videos on our social media too.

In the coming weeks and throughout the walk weekend NAMI Connecticut will be hosting virtual events for our walkers and our sponsors. We will be sharing all of our upcoming virtual events by email, on our website and on our Facebook and Instagram.

With your help our virtual walk will be a fun and interactive event that will also keep us safe through social distancing, not social isolation.

The money raised through our walk helps fund our transformative work. NAMI's signature education programs, Family to Family, Homefront, Basics, and Ending the Silence help family members and parents of people with mental illness understand mental health conditions and support their loved one while maintaining their own well-being. Our support groups are there to let people affected by mental health issues know they are not alone.

Here’s how your support gives hope and help:

  • $1,000: Materials for two NAMI Family to Family classes
  • $500: Cost to train one NAMI Basics teacher
  • $250: Materials for one NAMI Peer to Peer course
  • $100: One month of Parent support groups
  • $50: Materials for one Suicide prevention class

Why We Do This

We all participate in the Walk for different reasons; some people walk to celebrate their own recovery. Some walkers are supporting family members or friends who are living with a mental illness. Some may walk in memory of a loved one. The Walk is an important way to help fight the stigma of mental illness, and demonstrate our support to the community.

The other side of the Walk is the money that we raise. More than 90% of the funds raised by the Walk go to support the signature programs that we provide, for free to participants.

A Walker's Story

When our son was struggling with bipolar disorder, our family and the life we knew was turned upside-down. We were fortunate in that not long after he was diagnosed, we discovered NAMI. But it was only after our son was truly solid in his recovery did we begin participating in the annual NAMI Connecticut Walk. We shouldn’t have waited. However, up until that point we were afraid, afraid of being judged, afraid of being shunned. We didn’t realize how liberating the Walk experience would be; surrounded by approximately 1,000 others just like us: parents, children, relatives, friends, providers; and people in recovery. Folks with who we could share our story, without feeling shame, who “got it.”  We realized we were truly not alone, that everyone knew someone who may have struggled with (or is still struggling with) a mental health condition. And it was OK.

You really felt it in your heart what it meant to know “You (us!) are not alone.” We left that first Walk energized and full of hope for the future, knowing that we were part of something bigger, a real community of caring people.