Our supportive and educational programs and services focus on serious mental health disorders including schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression), major depression, borderline personality disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, severe anxiety disorder and co-occurring brain disorders and substance abuse disorders.
NAMI Santa Barbara County - NAMI supports our community by providing emotional support, educational resources, and advocacy for individuals and families affected by mental illness, and fights stigma associated with mental illness in our community.
- NAMI’s resources are available in both English and Spanish, are County-wide and virtual, and are free to the community.
- Emotional support services are offered to individuals and families in peer-led group or individual settings. Educational services are led by either trained peers or expert mental health or allied professionals and are designed to help participants understand mental health disorders, how they impact the individual and family, and how to cope with that impact so that the entire family can find a path to recovery.
- Our Advocacy program focuses on improving mental health services in our county by collaborating with other community stakeholders to positively impact the availability and quality of services. Additionally, we serve as a community resource to help the larger community develop a better understanding of mental health disorders and combat the negative stigma that the larger community sometimes associates with mental health disorders.
NAMI Southern California County began in 1982 as an affiliate of NAMI California and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). NAMI is the leading voice in the nation on mental health disorders, an association of hundreds of local affiliates, state organizations and volunteers who work in communities to raise awareness and provide support and education that was not previously available to those in need.