Making it personal

You don’t have to go any further than the publicity materials for Bebe Moore Campbell’s latest novel or her website (www.bebemoorecampbell.com) to understand that “72 Hour Hold” has its origins in the author’s experiences with a loved one’s mental illness, or that she believes such brain disorders particularly stigmatize blacks who suffer from them, in part because of the community’s reluctance to confront them. “I feel that it’s my job as a writer to create a community dialogue when silence is killing us,” she writes in a Q&A; on her publisher’s website.

But Campbell’s commitment has gone far beyond her writing, transforming her into a mental health advocate for African Americans. It started five years ago, when Campbell visited Nancy Carter, 59, at her home in Santa Monica to talk about the illness of her relative.

“We ended up sitting on the living room floor, talking for hours about what we were going through,” recalls Carter, who has a relative with bipolar disorder. “We talked, we cried together, and later we went to church together.” The two agreed that there had to be others going through similar experiences, so they sought others out and soon there were six women meeting at Carter’s home.

It was important for all the women to know they were not alone, something Benita “Bunny” Council, a 50-ish pharmacist who lives in Inglewood, appreciated when she joined in 2001. “My loved one has schizophrenia,” she says, “so I really benefited from the wealth of knowledge in the group, their support and their knowledge of the justice system. I also can’t emphasize enough how comforting it was being with women of color going through the same thing.”

Carter concurs. “Sometimes, people are self-conscious or too ashamed to reveal what they’re going through, but when you have a loved one walking down the middle of the road with no clothes on, you have to get over yourself!”

That down-to-earth attitude has buoyed the group’s spirits through the ups and downs of coping with mental illness in their families. Searching the Internet led them to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Inspired by what they saw, they established the NAMI-Inglewood Chapter in 2003.

The chapter offers a variety of free services including support groups and a 12-week education course for family members and those who provide services to individuals with brain disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (manic depression), clinical depression, panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The course is taught by people trained and certified by NAMI, including Campbell and Carter. “After we were trained, we were asked if we would teach the classes on the Westside,” Carter recalls. “But we felt it was important to teach in our communities.”

Keeping the focus on African Americans and other people of color was also paramount to Campbell. “My work with the mentally ill is partly community work and partly my personal mission,” she explains. She has also written a play, “Even With the Madness,” and a 2003 children’s book about bipolar disorder, “Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry,” which Campbell has read to children at bookstores, churches and housing projects.

Nowadays her attention is on “72 Hour Hold,” which she read from at NAMI’s recent national convention in Austin, Texas, and discusses on her current 18-city tour.

Carter hopes Campbell’s new book will help increase awareness and acceptance of brain disorders in the black community. “Mental illness is the last taboo,” Carter asserts. “And even though I broke down and cried at times while reading the book, I think it’s a great thing Bebe has done. The book shows that you’ve got to find the joy in life, no matter the pain.”

Paula L. Woods

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About NAMI

On the Web: www.nami.org

More information: For particulars

about NAMI-Inglewood and its

programs and classes, call

(310) 203-7851.