After a successful first year in Hattiesburg – in which the Pine Belt chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness raised more than $12,000 with the help of 130 participants – the organization is bringing back NAMI Walks, a 5K and 2K walk designed to raise awareness mental illness and raise funds to help individuals and families.
This year’s event will be held Oct. 26 at Kamper Park in Hattiesburg, with check-in at 9:30 a.m. followed by the walk at 10 a.m.
“We work really, really hard to bring awareness to those who struggle with mental illness in the Pine Belt, and also the family members and caregivers,” walk organizer Lauren Toler said. “So through that, we help support a lot of programs (such) as crisis team intervention trainings, the drug court and the mental health first aid trainings."
“So with all that, we wanted to put on a walk to raise awareness for individuals living with mental illness, but also to raise money for the programs that we help support.”
The 5K will start at the park and make its way through residential neighborhoods toward downtown Hattiesburg, with the 2K loop cutting off of that.
“So if you want to cut off of the loop a little bit, you can, because it’s not timed,” Toler said. “It’s not like a traditional 5K – it’s more like a walk.”
Registration is free at www.namiwalks.org/pinebelt. Donations are encouraged as well, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to NAMI.
Participants can enjoy live music at the event, and food will be provided.
“We just encourage walkers to raise money, but you don’t have to raise a thing,” Toler said. “You can just show up, and we’ll be thrilled that you’re there.
“I will say that the donation platform that the national platform has put together is very user-friendly – it’s really easy to register. Once you get on there, you have an option to post it on Facebook, or it’ll write an email for you. It’s pretty helpful.”
NAMI Walks first came to Hattiesburg in 2018, after several years in Jackson.
“We’re very excited for this year,” Toler said. “We try to raise awareness and get the word out to all kinds of different groups.
“We try to focus on not just your typical mental health groups; we try to get the word out other ways too, and it’s been pretty successful.”
According to numbers from NAMI, 20 percent of children ages 13-18 have or will have a serious mental illness, and 43.8 million adults experience mental illness in a given year.
“We’re really just trying to get the word out about individuals with mental illnesses and the programs that go on to try and help them,” Toler said. “I think sometimes people don’t realize all that goes on and all that can be supported in the Pine Belt, because we really have some innovative stuff.”
