Skip to main content
Full access
Professional News
Published Online: 2 December 2005

Advocacy Walk Gets Monumental Backdrop

APA leaders and staff braved the cold one morning last October to walk alongside more than 300 consumers, family members, other psychiatrists, and mental health professionals during a 5-K walk to raise public awareness of mental illness.
Washington, D.C.'s Ballou High School sent its marching band, the Marching Knights, to regale walkers with song and dance before the 5-K walk.
Eve Bender
Team APA boasted more than 60 members who registered for the second annual NAMIWalks D.C.; it was one of 43 teams participating in the walkathon.
In more than just a symbolic show of unity, APA President Steven Sharfstein, M.D., and NAMI President Suzanne Vogel-Scibilia, M.D., joined a stream of more than 300 walkers who completed the 5-K NAMIWalks D.C.
Eve Bender
The 5-K walk began on the National Mall and followed a picturesque route past the Washington Monument and the Tidal Basin. Registered walkers raised money to support the programs of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
This year's walk generated about $53,000, according to Kara Sweeney, M.P.H., regional NAMI-Walks manager.
APA cosponsored the walk and this year donated $5,000. American Psychiatric Publishing Inc., and the American Psychiatric Foundation each donated $2,500, for a total of $10,000 from APA and its subsidiaries.
APA President Steven Sharfstein, M.D., called the walk “advocacy at its best” and told Psychiatric News that “it was a beautiful day for a walk in recognition of those with mental disorders and the doctors who treat them.”
Eugene Cassel, J.D., director of APA's Division of Advocacy, told Psychiatric News that through its partnership with NAMI, APA is“ working toward the goal of building a strong, supportive mental health advocacy community” that will lead to better care for those with mental illness.
NAMI President Suzanne Vogel-Scibilia, M.D., rallied walkers with some words of encouragement and shared with them her experiences of stigma as a psychiatrist with bipolar disorder (see page 13).
NAMI held 50 walks across the country in 2005, which together raised more than $3 million.
More information about the NAMIWalks program is posted at<www.nami.org>.

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

History

Published online: 2 December 2005
Published in print: December 2, 2005

Notes

NAMI and APA once again join forces to bring mental health issues into the national spotlight with the second annual NAMI-Walks D.C.

Authors

Affiliations

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Export Citations

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.

Format
Citation style
Style
Copy to clipboard

There are no citations for this item

View Options

View options

Get Access

Login options

Already a subscriber? Access your subscription through your login credentials or your institution for full access to this article.

Personal login Institutional Login Open Athens login

Not a subscriber?

Subscribe Now / Learn More

PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5-TR® library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development.

Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.).

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Share article link

Share