Finding Mental Health Support This Winter

The National Alliance on Mental Illness speaks on getting through Michigan’s toughest season

By Ren Brabenec | Jan. 4, 2025

Just about everyone who’s grown up in northern Michigan has uttered this refrain at least once: “You like it here now, but wait until you experience our winters.”

It’s not just a Midwestern joke or colloquial quip. It’s real advice, because most people in this part of the world know someone who came here during summer vacation, fell in love with the place, bought a home, experienced one winter, and then moved away.

A confluence of factors makes our winter months particularly challenging. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), the close of the holidays, weather-related obstacles to getting out and about, and fewer things to do all mash together like the slush we walk through for months on end, a harsh contrast to our sun-kissed summers.

That’s why organizations like the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) have stepped in to provide free help for individuals attempting to access mental health services.

Bridging the Mental Healthcare Gap

“NAMI was founded in 1979 in Madison, Wisconsin, by Harriet Shetler and Beverly Young,” says Kate Dahlstrom, president of the Grand Traverse NAMI affiliate. “The women each had sons suffering from schizophrenia, and this was a time when mental illness was considered a character flaw or a reflection of poor mothering rather than a brain disorder.”

According to Dahlstrom, despite decades of scientific progress towards increasing our understanding of what causes mental illness, combating the ongoing stigma surrounding it is still a core mission of NAMI because stigma directly results in barriers to treatment.

“Mental illnesses are not caused by bad parenting and are not evidence of weakness of character,” says Dahlstrom. “But because there is still a stigma associated with many mental illnesses, it can be quite difficult to access care. Our job is to ensure people get the care they need as quickly as possible.”

That last statement lends itself to the core mission of NAMI-GT, which is to act as a much needed connector between patients and providers. “Judy Barrett started NAMI-GT in 2016. Paula McLain joined her shortly thereafter,” says Dahlstrom. “Together, they began helping patients find care.”

Northern Michigan qualifies as what Dahlstrom calls a “mental healthcare desert,” a region where the state is failing to meet the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’s recommendations for mental healthcare facilities and treatment options. NAMI-GT was founded to help patients get care despite the dearth of services.

“Especially during winter, people with anything from mild to serious mental health illnesses need access to services,” says Dahlstrom. “But more often than not, navigating the state’s healthcare system is overly complex at best, or patients simply get declined care at worst.”

“And you’d be surprised how often that worst-case scenario occurs,” she adds.

Dahlstrom describes a landscape where patients seek help at a northern Michigan hospital or healthcare facility, but, in too many cases, the patients’ situations are “not deemed urgent enough,” and patients are delayed in getting care.

“It’s a vicious cycle,” Dahlstrom continues. “Because delayed care is denied care, and the patient who was denied care for a panic attack today may have a psychotic break tomorrow and a suicide attempt the day after.”

Navigating the System

One of the core mandates of NAMI-GT is to provide free help in connecting (or reconnecting) patients with services. To do so, the organization retains Laura Mains, the group’s full-time Navigator. Her job is to help patients get the care they need.

Mains’ roles are many and varied, including assisting patients with complex paperwork, advocating for them when they’ve been denied care, and helping them get health insurance. NAMI-GT is also in the beginning stages of retaining an attorney who will represent patients and ensure they get the help they need.

NAMI-GT helps connect patients to treatment in other ways, mainly by supporting local organizations with similar objectives.

“Our organization has been deeply involved with the Crisis and Access Center project on the Munson Campus,” Dahlstrom says. “That center is designed to provide behavioral health and mental health services to the Grand Traverse region and the northern Lower Peninsula.”

The Grand Traverse Mental Health Crisis and Access Center, a new community mental health center, will start officially operating Jan. 5, scaling up services and staffing throughout 2025 to eventually offer 24/7 behavioral health services, psychiatric urgent care, and adult and pediatric crisis residential units.

Support, Training, Speakers, Events, Information, and Policy Advocacy

Beyond their core role of helping people with mental illnesses navigate the complex healthcare system, NAMI-GT also hosts support groups. The organization offers multiple weekly meetings, some of which are designed for people with mental illnesses, while others are for the family members and loved ones of people with mental illnesses.

Learning is another key component of NAMI-GT’s work. Family members of individuals with mental health illnesses can take a series of classes from NAMI-GT to become better equipped to support their loved ones. NAMI-GT curates a library of mental health books and free information resources, and they bring in nationally renowned doctors, therapists, lawyers, and clinicians specializing in mental health, advocacy, and healthcare access. Recently, the organization hosted an acclaimed attorney who educated attendees on navigating guardianship laws and court orders to help loved ones access treatment.

To reach the broader community, NAMI-GT also hosts events like the Ending the Silence Program, an early intervention approach delivered to middle and high schoolers in schools and churches. The program is designed to start the conversation with teenagers about their mental health and to normalize open and honest discussions about mental health issues.

In addition to the organization’s community support systems and mental health resources, Dahlstrom also strongly recommends Michigan’s relatively new “WarmLine.” Launched during the pandemic, the WarmLine connects individuals with certified peer support specialists who have lived experiences of behavioral health issues, trauma, or personal crises and are trained to support and empower the callers. The line is open seven days per week from 10am to 2am at 888-PEER-753 (888-733-753).

Last but not least, NAMI-GT advocates for better mental healthcare access in northern Michigan. One of the most significant concerns overshadowing Michigan’s future is the state’s population stagnation. Dahlstrom says access to healthcare services is a core metric families analyze when considering moving to or staying in the Great Lakes State.

“We need our northern Michigan legislators to put the health of their constituents over the profits of insurance companies,” Dahlstrom says in closing. “Currently, NAMI-GT is contacting legislators and advocating for HB4707/SB1126 (Insurance Parity for Behavioral Health Services), HB5184-5185 (Social Worker Licensure Exam Modification), and HB5371-5372 (codifying funding for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics).”

Dealing with Bad Winters

According to NAMI’s research, 39.9 percent of Michiganders struggle with depression or anxiety, and at least 5 percent of the adult population struggles with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

January and February consistently rank highest in the year for mental health episodes in Michigan, a state where 1.76 million people have a mental illness, including one in five youths. However, at least 27 percent of Michigan adults with depression, anxiety, SAD, or a combination of the three have been unable to access treatment. That figure soars to 60 percent for young Michiganders.

A combination of high costs and sparse treatment options in the northern Lower Peninsula and parts of the Upper Peninsula put patients in a difficult place. “Our winters are the worst for people with mental health illnesses,” says Dahlstrom.

NAMI-GT recently doubled their group support meeting schedule to ensure residents are getting the help they need because, according to her, it’s not just the patients with serious mental health conditions who need help during winter, though their need is greatest.

“We also have plenty of neighbors and community members who, though it might not be outwardly apparent to you and me, face moderate mental health challenges during the winter months,” she explains.