SANDPOINT — They walked in support — for those living with a mental health challenge and for their families. 

Saturday’s  National Alliance on Mental Illness Walk — part resource fair, part fundraiser, and part celebration — drew several hundred participants. The annual event highlights mental health awareness, connects people with resources, and encourages community action. 

"That's what this walk is all about — getting our resources together, getting the word out there," she added. 

That unconditional support and guidance proved invaluable when her family was in crisis. She told those gathered that NAMI helped her family find its footing and navigating its way to smoother waters on their mental health care journey. 

"Their steady presence has given us strength and made our family, and others feel so much less alone," said NAMI Far North board chair, Dr. Dawn Mehra, DVM. 

The annual walk highlights the importance of mental health awareness and support, Mehra said, with proceeds going toward NAMI Far North programs. 

NAMI Far North focuses on education, support, advocacy and public awareness of mental health through everything from peer-led support groups to its Sand Creek Clubhouse, which provides recovery-based programs for those living with a mental health challenge. 

Emcee Chris Chambers welcomed the several hundred gathered for the walk, thanking them for supporting those living with mental health challenges as well as the organizations which work with them. 

"Some of you have shared your own experiences, and those stories help remind us why walking together is important, listening to and learning from one another makes our community stronger," Chambers said. "None of us have all the answers, but we know the path to mental wellness is either easier when we don't walk it alone." 

One in five people deal with a mental health challenge at some point in their lives, and one in 20 live with a chronic or persistent mental health challenge. NAMI is working to change the system from help given at the point of violence "after lives have been turned upside down" to an upstream model where care is given early and those living with mental health challenge are given a way to integrate back into the community. 

"After much research over the last three or four years, the NAMI Far North board has committed to the most cost-effective community-based approach that we could we found Clubhouse International and launched the Sand Creek Clubhouse, the first clubhouse facility of its kind in Idaho launched right here downtown last year." 

Through the community-based program, individuals work alongside staff, rebuilding purpose, skills and connections. It is a program that has been proven to save lives and money with one year of clubhouse services costing the same as a 10-day hospital stay, Mehra said. 

"It's giving people a real chance to return to their lives and work," she added. "Who wouldn't want this in our community?" 

Like Mehra, Sandpoint Mayor Jeremy Grimm said his family has had to navigate its way through available resources to help a family member. 

"It's horrible, it's scary and it's one of the most challenging things anyone will face," Grimm said of their efforts to help the individual. "… You're all part of the solution here today. We can make a difference." 

Grimm said NAMI is "moving the needle toward a solution," offering the community, those living with mental health challenges and families a path forward. 

"We know there's not a silver bullet at the end of the day, but we know that every little bit that we can do can help support families, individuals in crisis or those with chronic mental health issues." 

In past years, much has been done to help those living with mental health challenges, including the addition of the 988 suicide and crisis hotline, adding a way for those in crisis to reach out. 

"It's literally less than two hours away for someone to come and talk to you or your family," Mehra said.  

The three-digit dialing code connects those in need with crisis support during mental health and substance use emergencies by providing 24/7 support, connecting trained crisis counselors with those in need. 

"Here is the community, I can't tell you how much comfort this brings our families, especially, as well as the people who are in crisis themselves, to have a really safe place to call," Mehra said. 

Each step that residents take during the mile-long walk is a testament to the community's strength and hope, Chambers said. 

"Our job is simple," he added. "Make space for conversation, offer support and point people to resources, good information when they need it the most." 

Mehra agreed, noting that in North Idaho, the region's residents lean on each other and work together with nonprofits "to hold up the sky." 

"While I admire the energy of business and enterprise, I deeply value the essential work that nonprofit organizations do. They feed us. They clothe us. They care for the people who often fall through the cracks." 

There is a need to help those living with a mental health challenge as well as a need to offer unconditional support and kindness, said speaker Ammi Midstokke, who serves on the board of the Sandpoint Alliance for Equality. She spoke of community members' mental health challenges, some who make it through to the other side and others who might not. 

"They are your neighbors, your friends, your family," Midstokke said. "… For some of us, (the challenge) is temporary, and for others, it's a lifelong experience. But for everyone, there is a path to a full and fulfilling life. We only need to build it." 

The construction of that path needs to be a collaboration between communities and the government, by friends and families of those living with a mental health challenge. 

"Our poor awareness, education and dialog about mental health diminishes people and costs our country," Midstokke said. "It's a problem of the system, not the person." 

It was the loss of her son, Ethan Murray, that prompted Justine Murray to launch a fund in her son's name as a way to begin building something positive out of the tragedy. Since its founding in 2021, two years after her son's death, the nonprofit advocates for mental health resources, funds therapy sessions for those in need and offers scholarships to local high school students impacted by mental health or wishing to pursue a career in the field. 

"Every step we take today honors the journey of those we've lost, those still struggling, those doing well, and those who keep showing up, just like Ethan did on the trail," Justin Murray said. "We keep putting one foot in front of the other, moving toward hope."