|
National Alliance on Mental Illness
Pomona Valley Affiliate
June Newsletter 2026
Helpline: (909) 399-0305
Available 9am to 9pm
| | |
Family Support Group is here to connect you with families and friends who also have a loved one in their life that is suffering from a mental illness.
We are here to support you!
We are in this together!
-
El Grupo de Apoyo familiar esta aquí para conectarte con familias y amistades de personas que sufren de una enfermedad de salud mental.
Estamos aquí para apoyarte!
Juntos se puede!
| | |
Every 1st Tuesday of the Month
Cada primer martes del mes
| | |
ENGLISH GROUP
WHEN:
June 2, 2026
6:15pm - 7:30pm
WHERE:
Claremont United Church
of Christ
233 Harrison Ave
Claremont CA, 91711
Upper Room - Upstairs
| |  | |
GRUPO EN ESPANOL
CUANDO:
2 de Junio, 2026
6:15pm - 7:30pm
DONDE:
Claremont United Church
of Christ
233 Harrison Ave
Claremont CA, 91711
En el "Library"
| | | 2nd Wednesdays of the every month | | |
3rd Wednesdays of every month
Cada tercer miércoles del mes
| | |
English Group
June 17, 2026
7pm- 8:30pm
Location:
Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church
724 E Bonita Ave,
San Dimas, CA 91773
Faith Formation (FF) Room 204-205
| |
| |
Grupo en Español
17 de Junio, 2026
7pm- 8:30pm
Lugar:
Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church
724 E Bonita Ave,
San Dimas, CA 91773
Faith Formation(FF) Room 204-205
| |
|
4th Wednesdays of the every month | |
June 24, 2026
6:15pm - 7:30pm
Claremont United Church of Christ
233 Harrison Ave
Claremont CA, 91711
Upstairs - Room 208
| |
| |
PEER SUPPORT
GROUPS - CONNECTION
| | |
NAMI Connection is a recovery support group program that offers respect, understanding, encouragement and hope. This group is a confidential and safe support group for adults living with mental health issues.
NAMI Connection groups are:
- Free and confidential
- Held weekly for 90 minutes
- Designed to connect, encourage, and support participants using a structured support group model
- Led by trained facilitators living in recovery themselves
| | |
IN PERSON
WHEN:
1st and 3rd Friday of every month
6:30pm – 8:00pm
WHERE:
United Church of Christ
233 Harrison Ave, corner of Harvard – 2nd floor in the
Upper Room
| | | |
VIRTUAL
WHEN:
2nd and 4th or 5th Friday of every month
6:30pm – 8:00pm
WHERE:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/628987619
| | | |
NAMI education classes and training programs are held throughout the year. Class seating is limited and fill quickly. Training programs are offered upon availability. Please fill out this contact form to be notified when registration for classes become available or for training program availability.
Sign-up on namipv.org for class notifications!
| |
"Do you have a loved one living with a mental health condition? Do you have questions about how to support, communicate with and advocate for them? Are you looking for connection with other family members like you? Join us for our next Family to Family class at NAMI Pomona Valley!
For more info and registration contact Kyoni
kyoni@namipv.org or call/text (909) 258-9864
An 8 week course for family members and caregivers of individuals afflicted with severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. Teachers are trained family members guided by a curriculum prepared and regularly updated by the national offices of NAMI. The course covers research to date on causes of mental illness, plus treatment and recovery programs as well as communication and coping skills.
Other classes
| | |
Five Acres Deaf Services provides mental health services tailored to the culture and language of Deaf Children, Teenagers, and Adults across Los Angeles County.
Services provided to Medi-Cal eligible ages 0-20 and include:
Individual & Family Therapy: Our therapists will meet with you via tele-health or in Office. We use a team approach, so you’ll never feel like you’re on
your own.
Psychological & Psychiatric services available for qualifying recipients
Case Management/Referrals: Five Acres’ team will link you to additional services to strengthen your mental health and coping skills.
Interpretation Services: American Sign Language, English, and Spanish interpreters are used during therapy sessions to ensure language is not a barrier to healing.
Flyers English/Spanish
| | |
A Groundbreaking Podcast Just Released, Telling Stigma-free Stories about Serious Mental Illness
Brain Stories is a 13-episode limited series capturing deeply personal stories of those living with a mental illness, and the people who support them. These are universal tales, profiling individuals of many backgrounds. They pull back the curtain on mental illness and tell authentic life-stories from the inside. These accounts reveal that the biggest challenges often come from the most surprising places. But so do the greatest triumphs.
Welcome to stigma-free storytelling!
The first episode was released October 23rd. (Spoiler alert: it tells the story of someone many in NAMI are familiar with: Dr. Xavier Amador. But so much of his story was untold). New episodes will be released every 2 weeks into April, 2025.
You can find episodes now at the website, BrainStoriesProductions.com or anywhere you get your podcasts.
Each episode is about 30 minutes in length. The series is hosted by Frank Kosa, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, and family-to-family facilitator. It's executive produced by Frank Kosa and Janet Yang, a leader in the motion picture industry and award-winning feature film and television producer, also a family-to-family facilitator. Episode Producers include two renowned psychiatrists, Dr. Ruth Shim and Dr. Mark Ragins, as well as award-winning audio producer, Boen Wang, and mental health advocate, writer and NAMI WLA board member, Sarah Haufrect.
| | |
NAMI Podcasts and Webinars are for people interested in learning more about mental health. Listen in to learn more about personal stories of hope and recovery, expert advice and research, and strategies for ending stigma and living well.
You can find additional episodes of this NAMI podcast and others
Podcast & Webinar Link
Hope Starts With Us :
Self-Acceptance, Shedding Shame, and Recovery Featuring McCall Dempsey and Alexandra Miles
Episode 96
From February 23 through March 1, 2026, NAMI joins the National Alliance for Eating Disorders in challenging stigma about eating disorders and supporting recovery. In this episode, NAMI CEO Daniel H. Gillison, Jr. is joined by McCall Dempsey, founder of Southern Smash, and Alexandra Miles, Founder and CEO of Project Blackbird. They will explore the connections between their work engaging young people, embracing self-acceptance as part of recovery, and what it means to shed shame about mental health and eating disorders. This episode highlights lived experiences with eating disorders and stigma reduction efforts.
You can find additional episodes of this NAMI podcast and others at nami.org/podcast.
Podcast Link
| | |
How California Can Improve Access
To Mental Health Services
The COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and the cost of living have all impacted Californians’ mental health over the past decade—but there’s a shortage of professionals who can meet this growing health care need. How might new or existing frameworks help make mental health services more accessible?
As Pomona College prepares to host a California gubernatorial debate on April 28, Associate Professor of Psychological Science Sara Masland examines existing barriers to accessing mental health services, the risks associated with using AI as a therapist and the importance of early intervention in the state’s new Mental Health for All initiative. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
More adults and teens in California report experiencing psychological distress than ten years ago. What factors might be contributing to this increase?
A combination of technological, social and economic forces are likely at play. Social media has fueled constant comparison and eroded sleep and face-to-face connection, while economic pressures have created chronic financial anxiety, especially for younger generations. These trends began before the COVID-19 pandemic but have only worsened since. Some factors are particularly relevant for California, including the high cost of living and housing crisis. Californians have also faced unique threats from climate change, including wildfire displacement, drought and extreme weather events. People of color, low-income Californians and those who identify as LGBTQ have been most impacted and have seen the greatest increase in psychological distress.
On a positive note, reduced stigma around mental health has reduced barriers to reporting distress, which means that the increases we see in reports of psychological distress are partly a reflection of greater awareness alongside genuine suffering.
Link to Article
|
NAMIWalks
Greater LA County
NAMI Walks LA took place on May 16,2026. A total of 206 Teams participated and 1,868 total participants!!
Thank you to everyone who donated, volunteered, attended, and supported our mental health event. Your generosity, time, and compassion helped make this day truly meaningful. Because of you, we were able to come together as a community to raise awareness, provide hope, and remind others that mental health matters. We are so grateful for your support and for standing with us in promoting Mental Health for All. 💙
NAMI Pomona Valley's Goal: $24,000
So far we've raised : $25,124
Thank you !!
| | |
LA County Transforms vacant buildings into Mental Health Treatment Village
Los Angeles County leaders are breaking ground Friday on a new mental health treatment complex that will transform long-vacant buildings on a historic Norwalk hospital campus into a “village” for care and supportive housing.
County Supervisor Janice Hahn, state Sen. Bob Archuleta and other state and county officials are scheduled to take part in the ceremony at the Metropolitan State Hospital campus on Norwalk Boulevard.
The project, known as the L.A. County Care Community, will convert six unused buildings into a “mental healthcare village” designed to serve people with a wide range of behavioral health needs.
Plans call for a campus-style complex with locked psychiatric treatment beds, interim housing and permanent supportive housing arranged around a shared courtyard.
“This is exactly the type of project voters want us to be building,” Hahn said in a statement. “These buildings are doing no one any good sitting empty. By locking arms with the state, LA County will take these vacant buildings and transform them into a mental healthcare village where we can provide safe, professional, caring treatment and housing to people who desperately need it.”
County officials say the project is funded with $65 million from Proposition 1, a statewide measure approved by voters in 2024 to expand behavioral health treatment infrastructure.
Initial plans call for renovating two buildings to house 32 subacute mental health treatment beds, a level of care considered one of the county’s most urgent needs for people with serious mental illness.
In total, the broader redevelopment effort is expected to include 50 permanent supportive housing units and 70 interim housing units, allowing people to move from treatment into housing on the same campus.
The Metropolitan State Hospital campus, which opened in 1916, once housed thousands of psychiatric patients. Today it has far fewer patients and includes numerous vacant buildings across its 162-acre property.
Article - KTLA5
| |
|
Become a Member and Help fight Stigma!
NAMI Membership Dues:
Are you Current? Donations and membership are actually tax deductible!
Household Membership $60.00
Individual Membership $40.00
Open Doors Membership $ 5.00
Membership benefits include:
- Our flagship magazine, The NAMI Advocate
- Membership with NAMI National, NAMI California, and our Pomona Valley Affiliate
- Voting privileges
-
Discounts at the NAMI Store and on registration at the NAMI National Convention
- Access to all the information and features on the NAMI.org website and more
CLICK HERE - Become a member or gift a membership today!
NAMI is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization and your donation is tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. To claim a donation as a deduction on your U.S. taxes, please keep your email donation receipt as your official record. We'll send it to you upon successful
completion of your donation.
| | |
Interested in Advocacy?
Want to get involved with mental health advocacy in Los Angeles County? NAMI Greater Los Angeles County (GLAC) can help you get started!
Visit NAMIPV.org/County-Advocacy
You will learn about:
· NAMI GLAC’s vision and public policy priorities
· The monthly General & Criminal Justice Advocacy Committee meeting
· Los Angeles County, State, and National advocacy actions
· CARE Act, CARE Court, and SB43
· Advocacy-focused webinar recordings
· How you can become an advocacy subject matter expert
You can also sign up here to receive NAMI GLAC advocacy alters.
| | |
Connect with Hope - Warmline
Whether you need emotional support, help finding resources, or just a moment of connection,
NAMI GLAC's Connect with Hope Warmline is here for you.
Our Certified Peer Support Specialists provide free, confidential, empathetic support which honors your journey and empowers you to find hope & healing.
📅 Hours: Mon. - Fri. 10 AM - 8 PM and Saturday, 10 AM - 2 PM
📞 Phone: (818) 208-1801
💌 Email: Hope@NAMIGLAC.org
💻 Web: NAMIGLAC.org/ Warmline
🗣️ ¡Hablamos español! Marque
(818) 208-1801 y presione #2.
Conoce Especialista Elizabeth aquí
No matter your background or where you are in your mental health journey, you’ll find a welcoming voice ready to support you on the Connect with
Hope Warmline!
| | |
Peer Support Specialist
Let NAMI Greater Los Angeles County (GLAC) help you take your first step into a paid or volunteer role supporting the mental health of your fellow Los Angeles residents by earning your Peer Support Specialist Training Certification!
Peer Support Specialists https://www.samhsa.gov/technical-assistance/brss-tacs/peer-support-worker leverage their own lived experiences living with or supporting someone with a mental health and/or substance use challenge to provide support to others experiencing similar challenges.
Your lived experiences can help break down barriers and offer a level of validation, understanding, and acceptance not found in other professional relationships.
Learn more and sign up at NAMIGLAC.org/PSS
| |
If you have any questions please feel free
to call the NAMI Pomona Valley Helpline: (909) 399-0305
Available 9am to 9pm
| | |
!!Volunteers Needed!!
Volunteers are integral to the success of NAMI Pomona Valley.
We are currently looking for:
Helpline Volunteers
In person/ Info Table/ Community Volunteers
Peer presenter Volunteers
More details about peer presenters click here
Please fill out this form if you are interested: VOLUNTEER FORM
You may also contact the office for more details.
Phone: (909) 625-2383
Email: admin@namipv.org
| | |
If you Need Help Reach out
| | | | |
