Mental Illness grade for Illinois: D

Today I visited the website again for NAMI - the National Association on Mental Illness.

I had watched the movie, reign over me (Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle) - it's available from the shelf of the Woodstock Public Library. The story is about a dentist, played by Sandler, whose grasp on reality dives off the cliff after his wife, children and dog perish in one of the 9/11 plane crashes.

On the NAMI website are grades for the states on the services they provide for persons with mental illness. NAMI grades Illinois with a D. You can check this out for yourself at http://www.nami.org/

I have no doubt that Illinois gets the D, instead of an F, because of the services provided in McHenry County. We might take these for granted, such as the Crisis Line, Family Service & Community Mental Health Center (in McHenry; http://www.familyserviceonline.org/), NAMI (http://www.namimchenrycounty.org/), and the many other agencies funded through the McHenry County Mental Health Board.

Also, check out the Network of Care website at http://mchenry.il.networkofcare.org/ for a large listing of services available in our area. The Network of Care is a system that exists nationally. If you are outside McHenry County, Illinois, you can search for services in your area at http://www.networkofcare.org/ Follow the links to your locale and the information for the service that will be helpful to you or someone you know.