When Stephen Thurlow retired as music department chairman from Marmion Academy in Aurora, he began volunteering for National Alliance of Mental Illness Kane County North’s adult recreation program.
Twice each week — on Tuesday and Friday afternoons — about 25 adults with mental illness meet as part of a peer support group to play games, do art projects, and enjoy each other’s companionship at the Ecker Center in Elgin.
Before NAMI Kane County North stepped in to run the program in December 2015, the group had met five days a week, but then state budget cuts happened.
There is a wonderful bond of friendship now in the group, Thurlow said.
“When someone is not here, people start phoning and reaching out,” he said.
When the group did not meet due to the Fourth of July holiday, he confessed, “I missed the members of the group.”
Thurlow said many people have a family member or know someone that struggles with mental illness.
“Mental illness can be a very lonely illness,” said Laurie Huske, president of NAMI Kane County North. “This program is a touchstone to being with people which we know is very helpful and healing,”
Beginning in July, NAMI Kane-South, DeKalb, and Kendall Counties is offering a similar recreation program in Aurora each Thursday, and Thurlow also will be volunteering his time to get this group off the ground.
“It is so easy for people experiencing mental health issues to become secluded and isolated,” he said. “The greatest need they have is to have some type of outlet where they can talk, play games, and enjoy some of the simple joys in life.”
The group also serves as a reinforcement to help these individuals remain on medication and to make them aware that if they “fall, there is another member of the group who will be there to lift them up,” Thurlow said.
This program provides an opportunity for people with mental illness to come and take part in activities and meet new people, Jessica Isaacson, the Executive Director NAMI Kane-South, DeKalb and Kendall Counties said.
Both NAMI groups are affiliates of the National Alliance of Mental Illness, a nonprofit dedicated to providing support, education, and advocacy for persons living with mental illness as well as members of the community, family members, and caregivers who know someone who suffers from mental illness.
Mental illness falls under a wide spectrum of disorders, according to Isaacson.
One in five people experience mental illness, she added, which can vary between something such as attention deficit disorder, anxiety, or depression to something more serious such as bipolar, borderline personality disorder, or schizophrenia.
Older adults with mental illness really struggle to find friends and individuals who are accepting of them, Isaacson said.
“A lot of times their friends and family members abandon them,” she said.
Cathy Janek is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News
NAMI Recreation Program
What: NAMI Recreation Program is for individuals ages 18 and older living with a mental illness.
When: Thursdays, 1 to 3 p.m.
Where: Presence Mercy Behavioral Health Center, Dunleavy Room, 1325 N. Highland Ave., Aurora
