Beacons of Light

Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)

The idea of mental health has changed quite a lot in the last 70 years. The idea of a psychiatric hospital, or an asylum is only seen in horror movies in our age. That word asylum really stands out to me. When I really want to understand a word, I love to look at its definition, where it came from, and words that are similar, its synonyms. Both etymology and synonyms take us a long way when looking at the word asylum.

Originating from the Greek ‘ásūlos. The prefix ‘a-’, for “without”, and ‘súlē’, meant “seizure”, or “plunder”. The idea of being without plunder, coming from merchant ships on the sea, a lot of trade happened in the Mediterranean. The idea was to be safe from violence. Transforming the word slightly, you get ‘ásūlon’, which refers to a “sanctuary”. A sanctuary is a place we all seek in our daily lives, and coincidentally is also a synonym of asylum.

Deinstitutionalization is a very difficult word to remember how to spell. It’s also a difficult topic to look at. This word seems difficult to break down, but the concept here is removing people from an institution, typically referencing a mental hospital. Some argue individuals release from institutions from the 50’s through the 80’s changed our world drastically. Many of these individuals found themselves re-institutionalized, in a place significantly less helpful for them.

A prison may have similar amenities to a mental institution, but just doesn’t typically have the capacity to care for mental illness.

There are many ways to combat this ‘transinstitutionalization’, you can fight against prisons, you can get angry at the system, you can direct all your energy at what appears to be the problem. Or you can sit down and find a more positive route. Direct that anger towards a real solution. Talk with people in your community and figure out how you can help locally. Find a way to grow a more positive world instead of just being angry at the one we’ve got.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness started with just a group of like-minded individuals. Unhappy with the world around them, the founders of NAMI wanted to grow mental health resources in their community. Almost 50 years later, they’ve grown relationships with corporate partners, influential ambassadors, and community collaborators. Growing this extensive network gives them the reach to help more people every year. With this being a national organization, it’s hard to imagine the reach they have in local communities. NAMI is broken up into separate affiliates within each state. Oklahoma currently has 7 affiliate areas covering most of the metropolitan areas in the state. Three of these stretch across the greater OKC area, offering resources, information, and understanding of mental illness. Having an organization like this in our state will only help to improve the state of mental health support in Oklahoma.

Mental Health Association of Oklahoma (MHAOKC)

Continuing to look at the history of words, “home” is another thing we all seek. A place to feel comfortable, a place to feel safe, a sort of sanctuary. The history of this word seems to date back to 4500 BCE, potentially over 6,000 years ago. There is a lot of work that has gone into reconstructing these old languages and a google search spiral led me to the root of ‘key-’ from a “Proto-Indo-European” language, spoken during the Bronze Age. This meant “to be lying down”, and “to settle”. Both things I know I take for granted. The idea of having a safe place to lie down, to rest and relax, to recharge for the next day. How can someone be expected to go about their life without a place to settle, a place to grow from. There are a lot of things in life we take for granted, all are built off a stable structure, a foundation to fall back on. This is the idea of Mental Health Alliance Oklahoma (MHAOK)

MHAOK has made quite in impact in our beautiful city. In 2022, their street outreach teams housed an average of 10 individuals a month, 120 total in just one year! They brought this idea of home, a place to sleep comfortably, to settle, to almost 10% of the homeless population in Oklahoma City. Now with the total number of people without homes in Oklahoma City almost reaching 2,000, it’s important to understand the next steps.

Having a place to settle, a roof over your head is the stable foundation, a place to grow from. To continue this growth, and build the community, it’s important to stay educated. MHAOK expands their reach further than providing sanctuary.

They also provide education and understanding. Around 90% of the residents remained in the same place after one year. This shows the care not only in providing necessities, but also showing how to maintain them. Offering countless programs including mental health support, suicide prevention training, employment centers, street outreach (including rapid response, and street medicine), and criminal justice reform.

Led by a team of executives with careers focused on helping people, MHAOK values the idea of a home being priority. It’s always easy to think that a person’s choices led to where they are, but the flip side of that is, it’s hard to make good decisions when you don’t have a place to sleep, a place to feel safe, a sanctuary.