Support groups offer help for the winter blues
The winter blues can affect people who don’t regularly feel depressed or anxious. Just ask the facilitator of one of Butler County’s mental illness support groups.
Nathan Lazaroff, media and marketing coordinator for NAMI Butler County — the National Alliance on Mental Illness — said the organization has seen an increase in calls and attendance at meetings in recent weeks. Holiday stress and winter’s short days with less sunlight seem to be contributing factors.
According to program facilitator Lazaroff, NAMI Connection support groups are open to anyone who needs help mentally or emotionally. As a person who has publicly shared his struggles with anxiety, Lazaroff said the support group is a good place for people to turn for advice, to listen or simply to feel less alone.
While the holidays can ramp up anxiety, Lazaroff said, “when it's dark at 4:30, it can be rough on you.”
“You don't have to have an official diagnosis” to attend a support group, he said. “It can be for anyone who is just not feeling good in that moment or having holiday stressors.
“The holiday season is always stressful for everyone; we actually have a guide for managing your mental health during the holidays. We generally do see people who need extra help.”
There are more than 700 NAMI state organizations and affiliates across the U.S., which work in communities to raise awareness and provide support and education. In Pennsylvania, 21 counties have NAMI affiliates.
Linda K. Schmitmeyer, a NAMI-certified leaders of its family-to-family classes, said the Butler County organization is a “robust” affiliate, which offers education on mental illness aimed at people who have been diagnosed, their families and more. The classes are led by peers, who have lived experience with mental illness, and others by family members of people struggling with mental illness.
“We talk about the different kind of diagnoses, treatments for the diagnoses,” Schmitmeyer said. “We also talk about different strategies for communicating with your loved one. It's to try to look at how the brain works, so it's very education-oriented.”
The Connection support group meets from 6 to 7:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month at the Holly Pointe Building on Main Street in Butler; and the family support group has meetings in different areas of Butler County each month, including Zelienople and Slippery Rock.
The Connection support group follows a structure that has been developed by the national NAMI organization — so people who have attended a NAMI support group in another state will have almost the same experience in Butler County. Lazaroff said the support groups give people an opportunity to open up, but also to listen to hear the experiences of others in attendance.
“We have a group check-in, questions, and we ask how everyone is doing, and what they need help with right now,” Lazaroff said.
While Schmitmeyer leads family-to-family education classes, the family support groups are led by Jim Clendaniel, a NAMI-certified leaders of the classes.
Clendaniel said the family support group can help people who live with or are close with a person with a mental illness, which can also be helpful around the holiday season. These support groups are similar to the Connection group, in that it, too follows a nationally outlined format that gives attendees education and then a chance to open up about their own experiences.
“Facilitators facilitate — we're not telling people what to do, we're asking the wisdom of the group,” Clendaniel said. “It can help you give you a basic foundational work in communicating with your loved one.”
Lazaroff, Schmitmeyer and Clendaniel each have lived experience with mental illness. Schmitmeyer said she has lived with a person who changed after a head injury, and took a class in 1997 to learn more about the brain, and how changes to it affect an individual’s behavior.
“The purpose is to help family members like us learn about the illness, understand our loved ones and therefore be able to help them,” Schmitmeyer said. “It also offers the opportunity for hope, that there may be a path to recovery. Another one is 'You are not alone.'”
Clendaniel, too, has family members who struggle with mental illness, and said the support groups he facilitates help show people they are not alone in their experiences.
“When people hear the shared stories of all the people attending the group, they're kind of amazed,” Clendaniel said. “The stories just sound so similar to the one you're living. What the support groups do is, they normalize the experiences that we're all having.”
Lazaroff and Schmitmeyer said mental struggles can be difficult to treat or even diagnose, leading some people to go years without being aware that they could need help. While symptoms vary even among a single diagnosis, Schmitmeyer said even people uncertain of their potential condition could benefit from an educational class on mental illness.
“It's so hard to diagnose; there's no X-ray, there's no blood work,” Schmitmeyer said. “It's based on behavior — it's a chemical imbalance. They are making progress with research, but there's no test.”
Donna Lamison, executive director of NAMI Butler County, said the organization began getting more attention in the years following 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated mental struggles on a national scale. The organization now offers virtual support groups and meetings.
Lamison also said the organization is always looking for people to get involved, and help lead classes or facilitate support groups.
“They are up, and calls to the office have increased,” Lamison said of support group attendance. “It has taken a while since COVID for people to get back out.”
Lazaroff said people are free to visit a support group meeting if they want to get an idea of how they operate, which he recommends to people undergoing difficult feelings at any time. There is no requirement to share, Lazaroff said, because Connection is meant to provide a comforting space first and foremost.
“I'd say come and give it a chance,” Lazaroff said. “There's no registration for the connection group, just come as you are. We're here to listen to what's on your mind.”
The Connection support group meets at 6 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month in the first floor of the Holly Pointe Building, 220 South Main Street, Butler, while the family support group meets at 5:30 p.m. the third Monday of the month at St. John’s United Church of Christ in Evans City; at 5:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of the month at Passavant Retirement Community in Zelienople; and at 11 a.m. the first Saturday of each month at Slippery Rock Community Library.
For more information on NAMI or its classes and support groups, visit namibutler.org.
