Virtual Challenge and In-Person 5k Run/Walk. Kick off date for Early Registration is June 3, 2024 with In-Person event to take place on Saturday, October 12, 2024.

NAMI Emerald Coast, (Previously NAMI Pensacola) now serving Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton County provide support and education for the family, friends and caregivers of individuals living with a mental health condition, giving a voice to those who seek a path to enhanced services. We also offer support and advocate for those in our communities who suffer. Currently, one in four Americans are impacted by a mental health condition and one in twenty by severe a mental health condition. Many do not seek treatment because of the stigma attached to this devastating disease and many do not know where to turn.

The EscaRosa Suicide Prevention Coalition exists to eliminate suicide in our community. We are a dedicated group of community stakeholders working together to transform our community through raising awareness, increasing knowledge and skills, and implementing strategic interventions for suicide prevention.

Since 2018 we have engaged over 30 organizations, including most of the areas healthcare systems, law enforcement agencies, school districts, higher education institutions, mental health and substance use disorder organizations along with youth and veteran serving organizations and individuals with lived experience. We have reviewed local data, implemented support groups, facilitated vital collaborations, as well as increased the number and impact of mental health and suicide prevention trainings.

One of our greatest accomplishments has been working with one of our partners, United Way of West Florida, to engage with the national resource, Crisis Text Line, to provide a community keyword (GULF) for the panhandle, which gives our community another way to seek help, while providing the coalition with the much-needed data on mental health in our area. In 2021 we convened a Board of Directors and became a registered Florida Non-Profit and received our 501c (3) status in the fall of 2022.

Currently we are targeting interventions for youth and veterans, as well as bringing awareness and resources to the community related to suicide prevention and crisis intervention. We are also working to provide education and resources to our healthcare systems through the pursuit of a grant opportunity for a project know as Zero Suicide.

NAMI Emerald Coast is an affiliate of the largest grassroots, non-profit, mental health organization in America. We are staffed by volunteers and all donations are tax deductible. All of our programs are free to the public. We offer 2 Virtual Family Support Group meetings and 1 in-person Family Support Group meeting each month for family, friends and caregivers of individuals living with a mental health condition; and 8 Connection Recovery Support Group meetings each month for those with a lived experience of a mental health condition. We offer our 8 week Peer to Peer Class and Family to Family Education Classes two times yearly in the spring, and fall. For more information on additional classes and support groups visit: Namisupportgroups.org

Funds raised by the "Ending the Silence" 5k Run/Walk in 2022 enabled us to train facilitators and leaders for our Peer to Peer and Family to Family Education classes, Family Support Group and Connection Recovery Support Group and presenters for our In Our Own Voice presentation and Sharing Our Stories with Law Enforcement. In January 2023, we added FaithNet to bring Mental Health awareness to our faith community and in July 2023 we started our conversation series, Sharing Hope with Minority Communities. In February 2024, we completed our first very successful Sharing Hope, 3-part conversation series and are already beginning our second series. As part of the Mental Health Task Force Strategic Plan, NAMI Emerald Coast has successfully trained 103 Peers in H.O.H. Helping Others Heal, W.R.A.P. Seminar I and II, all training necessary for Certified Recovery Peer Specialist. NAMI is training a Nation of Peers with lived experience who will walk with others on their journey of recovery.

But most importantly, through advocacy we seek to raise awareness of the challenges of our friends and loved ones living so bravely with mental health conditions and Substance Use. Underserved, misunderstood and at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of public dollars allocated for research and cutting-edge treatment, our friends and loved ones deserve better. Florida ranks 46th nationwide in 2023 on access to mental health care and Escambia County is #1 in the state of Florida for Opioid overdose. This is your opportunity to add your voice to those calling for change.

Join us in Ending the Silence on Saturday, October 14, 2023 at UWF by supporting the 2023 NAMI Pensacola, Okaloosa/Walton and EscaRosa Suicide Prevention Coalition 5k Virtual Challenge and In Person Run/Walk, as a sponsor, by forming a team, or individually.

Linda Finkelstein, NAMI Emerald Coast

Rachelle Burns, EscaRosa Suicide Prevention Coalition