Staff and board members of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Butler County attended the organization's annual golf outing on Saturday. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Many people are still living with and working through the mental fallout caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to Donna Lamison, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Butler County.

A lot of people have experienced a change in brain chemistry and don’t even realize it, she said.

The increased need for emotional support and resources is reflected in the number of calls NAMI has received over the past few months, which Lamison said are up from years prior to the pandemic.

“I think a lot of us have been traumatized by COVID, the isolation and support issues because we haven't been able to get together as much with our families,” she said. “We have been getting a tremendous amount of calls for people seeking help in some way, shape or form.”

The county chapter of NAMI offers several support groups for people experiencing different emotional and mental needs, and the organization is highlighting them during May, which is nationally known as Mental Health Awareness Month.

In addition to the increase in calls asking for resources, Lamison said the support groups hosted by NAMI have grown in popularity as well, namely the family support group aimed at people who are supporting someone else suffering from mental illness.

NAMI also hosted its annual golf tournament fund raiser Saturday, which raised a record of $10,000 — an indicator of the increase in awareness of mental illness, Lamison said.

“People are becoming more aware of it,” Lamison said.

Family support groups meet in Butler, Zelienople and Evans City — and they have a virtual option. They each meet on different days once a month.

The Butler group meets at 6:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of every month at Trinity Lutheran Church, the Zelienople group meets at 5:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of the month at the Passavant Retirement and Health Center, and the Evans City group meets at 5:30 p.m. the third Monday of every month at St. John's United Church of Christ.

The online group meets at 7 p.m. the first Thursday of every month.

Lamison said each option attracts a different audience demographic.

“The virtual groups were very well-attended,” she said. “Now that we have gone back to three in-person groups, they are being better attended than the virtual. We are finding that it was a different age group going online than the ones coming in-person.”

Linda Schmitmeyer, secretary of the nonprofit’s board of directors, leads NAMI’s Family-to-Family course, which is an eight-week group class that empowers people with information to better support someone suffering with mental illness.

Schmitmeyer said the course is meant to be led by people with lived experience with mental health support, so those taking part in it can be comfortable.

“The course is just to help people to have a safe place where they can go and learn about the illness,” she said. “We talk about different kinds of mental illness, treatment options, and we offer tips on navigating the healthcare system to understand it.”

Schmitmeyer also said the course doesn’t give direct instructions, but instead teaches people tools to communicate in a healthy way with their loved ones suffering from mental illness.

The course could help people work through symptoms of mental illness and lead them to the path of recovery, which Schmitmeyer said is not the end goal, but could be beneficial to everyone involved.

“Recovery may not be what you first imagine. It can make them hopeful,” she said. “It can be better communicating with someone who has mental illness when they are in an acute phase, through methods that might help diffuse situations rather than exacerbate those symptoms.”

The Family-to-Family course is offered in the spring and fall at the Holly Pointe Building in Butler, and Schmitmeyer said it can accommodate 20 to 22 registrants for the class in September. Free registration can be completed at namibutler.org.

Schmitmeyer said this program, and those offered by other mental health groups in Butler County, are important for not only providing access to help for a less talked about health issue, but for bringing attention to the need.

“People really need this program,” Schmitmeyer said. “This helps counteract the stigma that still is associated with illness.”

The Butler County Crisis Hotline is 1-844-427-4747.