Alliance for Mentally Ill Plans Walk

Joining a nationwide effort, the Ventura County Alliance for the Mentally Ill will hold a candlelight vigil and walk Sunday to dispel myths about mental illness.

The walk will begin at 6:45 p.m. in front of Ventura City Hall, next to the Father Serra statue at the top of California Street. It will proceed down Main Street to the fountain in front of the San Buenaventura Mission, where speakers will address mental-health issues.

Similar vigils, sponsored by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, have been held nationwide for the past 15 years to increase awareness of major mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, bipolar and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

“More than half of everything that is known about the brain has been learned in the last 10 years,” said Lou Matthews, spokesperson for the county’s Alliance for the Mentally Ill. “Major mental illnesses are not fundamentally different from other brain disorders such as Parkinson’s disease in that they have physical causes.”

Mental illnesses affect higher mental functions, such as feeling, remembering, thinking and behaving, Matthews said.

“But most people think that a person is just thinking or acting in a bizarre way and there’s a notion that the person just needs to straighten out,” she said. “There’s not that awareness that it’s a real physical abnormality that is causing this kind of behavior.”

The Ventura County Alliance for the Mentally Ill began participating in the national walks soon after it was founded in 1981. The alliance is also holding an open house Oct. 10 from noon to 3 p.m. in its office at 300 Hillmont St., Ventura. For more information, call 643-0915.