NAMI Pierce County

Karen Davis was a devoted member of NAMI - the National Alliance of Mental Illness - for nearly 14 years and dedicated her life to helping others who struggled with mental illness. After attending a NAMI Pierce County peer Connection Support Group in 2009 and finding there the love and acceptance she said she’d never found elsewhere, she trained to become a facilitator for the support group, and led it tirelessly every week, both in person and online, until she passed away on January 22 of this year.

Karen was a NAMI Family Support Group facilitator, a Peer-to-Peer mental health education teacher,a state trainer for the Connection Support Group, and led our Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) for law enforcement. She never turned down a request for help—serving on the NAMI Pierce County Board of Directors, leading their community outreach programs, serving as producer for many of their programs, heading resource fairs and tabling events in the community, and championing NAMI’s mission throughout, touching hundreds of lives during the process and inspiring us all.

Karen‘s absence leaves NAMI Pierce County with a huge void in continuing their programs. By establishing this fund, NAMI Pierce County will be able to recruit and train new volunteers as program leaders to help carry on the support groups, mental health education classes, crisis intervention training (CIT) for law enforcement, and the many other programs Karen led. In addition, NAMI Pierce County will be able to re-establish ‘Accountability Partnership’, a wellness recovery program focused on recovery skills and tools that Karen established and provided free to those who live with mental illness and are in recovery.

“SUA: Sincere Uncritical Acceptance” ~ how Karen always said NAMI made her feel when attending her first NAMI Pierce County support group and throughout her time with NAMI, and what she always strived for when facilitating her support groups and classes.

NAMI Pierce County Mission

NAMI Pierce County provides support, education, advocacy, and public awareness so that all individuals and families affected by mental illness can build better lives.

Our whole purpose is to support individuals and families whose lives have been touched by the challenges of mental illness. Why? Because we have been touched by these challenging conditions ourselves. We have walked - and are walking - in your shoes every day as individuals living with a mental illness or their family members. And things work better if we can take this journey together and support each other along the way.

In our envisioned future mental illness will no longer thwart a person's fulfillment of his or her potential. With early pinpoint diagnoses, interventions and targeted medications and services there is no pervasive disability. Ultimately, we envision a day when prevention or a cure is found.