About Us

NAMI Emerald Coast is the local volunteer affiliate of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) serving Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, and Walton Counties. Founded in 1979, the national organization has become the leading voice on mental illness. NAMI includes over 1, 200 affiliates in every state who join together to meet the NAMI mission through support, advocacy, education, and research for people with mental illness, their families and friends.

In May 2024, NAMI Pensacola and NAMI Okaloosa-Walton joined their efforts to become NAMI Emerald Coast to expand their service reach in the Florida Panhandle. NAMI Emerald Coast sponsors educational programs; support groups including, Connection for peer support and a separate family group; the Family-to-Family Education program; Sharing Hope for African American congregations and organizations; NAMI Basics, a 6-week education program for parents and caregivers of children and adolescents living with mental illnesses; In Our Own Voice, and Ending the Silence, an program designed for high school classes.

Our Ending the Silence 5k Run/Walk is held each year on the Saturday of National Mental Illness Awareness Week (1st week in October). Since 2015, it is the affiliate’s primary fundraising event in partnership with Escarosa Suicide Prevention Coalition. Gifts received from community sponsors help support NAMI Emerald Coast’s signature programs and raise awareness for suicide prevention as a community priority.

We are an all-volunteer organization with no professional staff. Through dues and fund-raising, we support these programs.

NAMI Emerald Coast is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Funds donated to NAMI Emerald Coast are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Our Affiliates:

NAMI National: NAMI started as a small group of families gathered around a kitchen table in 1979 has blossomed into the nation’s leading voice on mental health. Today, we are an association of more than 500 local affiliates who work in your community to raise awareness and provide support and education that was not previously available to those in need.

NAMI Florida: is the state affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and has its headquarters in Tallahassee, FL. We have 24 affiliates in communities across Florida providing education, advocacy, and support groups for people with mental illnesses and their loved ones. Each affiliate includes family members, friends, professionals, and consumers whose lives have been impacted by mental illness. Affiliates also help members access psychiatric services, treatment, benefits, medication, and housing.

NAMI Emerald Coast is a member of the Florida Mental Health Advocacy Coalition.