One Step at a Time: NAMI of Collier County Mental Health Walk 

Reporter: Ashley French
Published: Updated:
one step mental health

The discussion surrounding mental health is an important one; it also should never be taken lightly. 

The National Alliance on Mental Illness in Collier County raises awareness one step at a time. 

The NAMI of Collier County hosted its Hope Shines’ mental health awareness walk at the Arthrex Center on Saturday.

More than 600 people walked one mile around the campus with a purpose. Some of the participants WINK News spoke to shared a common story about the mental health challenges they’ve endured and conquered. 

Carol Anderson’s journey began when she started to feel isolated. 

“It was not good for me to be that isolated without any inner social interaction or anything,” said Anderson. So they sent me all the materials about NAMI, and sure enough, I went over, and I’ve been there every day since.” 

For Donna Ginter, her journey started with her son’s depression. 

“What really brought me out here is helping my son; to find to help him to be what he wants to be because of his depression and so forth, being his father passed away,” said Ginter. “NAMI is helping me to help him to cope with all his behavioral issues.” 

one step mental health

Barbaro Alvarez’s journey started with a health diagnosis and separation anxiety when he moved to the U.S. from Cuba. 

“I started feeling a little depressed. And at the same time, I was trying to ignore everything, my feelings, but I was crying every night, just thinking of my family,” said Alvarez. “I’m just so happy to be part of NAMI.”

Each person conquered the obstacles but was never alone. Beth Hatch, the CEO of NAMI, said she wants to further expand the topic of the importance of mental health. 

“The more help and early intervention and advocacy that we can give each of these individuals, the more success stories and the more wins that we’re gonna have, and truly, as we always say, no one is ever gonna be alone,” said Hatch. “It’s our mission all together to be ambassadors to remove that stigma. Mental health needs to be equal to physical health.”

Resources for help

NAMI Collier County

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline:  If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org/.

988 is a confidential, free crisis service available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Lifeline connects people to the nearest crisis center in the Lifeline national network. These centers provide crisis counseling and mental health referrals.

Crisis Text Line
Text “HELLO” to 741741
The Crisis Text hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, throughout the U.S. It serves anyone in any type of crisis and connects them with a crisis counselor who can provide support and information.

Veterans Crisis Line
Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) and press 1 or text to 838255
The Veterans Crisis Line is a free, confidential resource that connects veterans 24 hours a day, seven days a week with a trained responder. The service is available to all veterans, even if they are not registered with the VA or enrolled in VA healthcare.

National Disaster Distress Helpline
Call or text 1-800-985-5990
The disaster distress helpline provides immediate crisis counseling for people who are experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster. The helpline is free, multilingual, confidential, and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

National Domestic Violence Hotline

  • 1-800-799-7233
  • Text ” LOVEIS” to 22522
  • TTY 1-800-787-3224

National Child Abuse Hotline

  • 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453)
  • Text 1-800-422-4453

National Sexual Assault Hotline

The Eldercare Locator

Support Websites 

Support Hotlines 

  • National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
  • Florida Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-500-1119, Florida Relay 711, TTY: 1-800-621-4202
  • Florida Sexual Violence information line 1-888-956-7273
  • National Runaway Safe line 1-800-RUNAWAY
  • National Teen Dating Abuse Hotline 1-866-331-9474 – Text: LOVEIS to 22522
  • National Human Trafficking Hotline 1-888-373-7888, Florida Relay 711, or Text 233733, https://humantraffickinghotline.org/
  • Florida Abuse Hotline 1-800-962-2873 or TTY:1-800-955-8771
  • Florida Elder Helpline 1-800-963-5337 or TTY: 1-800-955-8771
  • Non-emergency Legal Hotline 1-800-500-1119, prompt 3
  • General Resources and Hotlines | Florida Department of Health

Mental Health Helplines 

NAMI HelpLine | NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness is a free nationwide peer-support service providing information, resources, referrals, and support to people living with a mental health condition, their family members and caregivers, mental health providers, and the public. HelpLine staff and volunteers are experienced, well-trained, and able to provide guidance.
The NAMI HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., EST.
1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or helpline@nami.org


Teen Line:  An anonymous, nonjudgmental space for youth. Teen Line Teens can access personal peer-to-peer support from highly trained teens supervised by adult mental health professionals.
The Teen Line can be reached at 800-852-8336 Nationwide.

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