Montei Foundation donation

Family Support Group (FSG) Training

October 6-7 in Sarasota

New facilitators for FSG needed. If you would like train as an FSG facilitator and can commit to facilitating Family Support Groups in Sarasota County at least once per month please consider this unique opportunity. NAMI Sarasota County will cover the cost of training for applicants from Sarasota County.

If you have attended Family Support Groups previously for support you know how important these groups are to family members in our community.

For information or an application please contact Colleen Thayer, Executive Director, NAMI Read More

Allstate Foundation Helping Hands Grant

NAMI Sarasota County recently received a Helping Hands Grant from the Allstate Foundation thanks to Allstate volunteer, Katherine Adams-Love. The Allstate Foundation supports the causes that Allstate agency owners, financial specialists and employees care about most by providing Helping Hands Grants to nonprofits where they volunteer their time to bring out the good in their communities. This grant will enable NAMI Sarasota County to continue to provide support, education, and advocacy to individuals living with mental illness, their families and Read More

A case of misplaced priorities

Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Opinion

By Carrie Seidman , Columnist  | Updated May 19, 2018 at 7:56 PM

Proposed Department of Corrections cuts would decimate substance abuse programs in the midst of the opioid epidemic

Sometimes the shortsightedness of our state government leaves me speechless — and that’s not a condition I’m very familiar with.

I learned of a recent mind-bogglingly irrational decision last Friday when P.J. Brooks of First Step of Sarasota told shocked attendees at the regular monthly meeting of the Behavioral Healthcare Consortium that his agency Read More

Sarasota moving from ‘meanest’ to ‘most humane’ on the homeless front

Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Opinion

By Carrie Seidman, Columnist |  Updated Apr 19, 2018 at 10:52 AM

If ever there was an example of Sarasota at its worst, it was the prolonged, divisive and bungled effort to find a solution to reducing the number of homeless individuals in our city. It’s been a dozen years since Sarasota was named “the meanest city in America” by the National Coalition for the Homeless — raising red flags of alarm for a city reliant on tourism — and Read More

NAMI Sarasota County Welcomes Executive Director

By Barbara Wulf, Patch Poster 

Sarasota Patch | Mar 25, 2018 9:45 pm ET

Newly hired Executive Director for NAMI Sarasota will help the affiliate grow.

NAMI Sarasota County (National Alliance on Mental Illness), the nation’s largest organization for individuals and families affected by mental illness, has hired Colleen Thayer as their first Executive Director. As Executive Director, Ms. Thayer will provide leadership for NAMI Sarasota County’s mission and for the management of all programs Read More