An estimated 1,500 people will walk along the Lake Washington waterfront from Marina Park to Carillon Point this Saturday. The walk supports the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and is estimated to be one of the largest in the nation.

On a typical residential street like the one parallel to the walker’s route, one in four families is affected by a mental illness, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

Kirkland resident Dani Thibodeaux discovered her family was one of the 25 percent who experience mental illness when her daughter turned 20 years old. “Her whole personality changed,” Thibodeaux said. “We didn’t know this person who was our daughter.”

Thibodeaux’s daughter was soon diagnosed with schizophrenia, a disease that affects 2.4 million American adults over 18 years of age.

Most family members who discover a loved one has a mental illness have no direction for help. “At the time she got sick, we knew nothing about mental illnesses,” Thibodeaux said. “We started to look around for some help, and kind of realized there wasn’t a whole lot out there.”

That’s when she discovered NAMI. The non-profit organization aims to inform people about mental illnesses, and provides recovery services for families and individuals affected by a mental illness through free classes and support groups.

At NAMI meetings, Thibodeaux quickly learned about the high numbers of mental illness in the United States, and the low level of understanding of such diseases, which include bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and major depression.

A stigma surrounds mental illnesses often because people are uncomfortable with the way it changes the individual’s behavior. “Mentally ill individuals do things and say things that are not normal,” Thibodeaux said. “It’s a brain disorder so it doesn’t affect a limb — it affects people’s relationships with other people.”

Thibodeaux hopes the walk will inform people about the support NAMI provides.

“A lot of people with mental illness don’t even realize they’re sick, and their family loses touch,” she said. “We teach families how to be their safety net … The more people know about us the more we can help them.”

She has also learned that her experience with mental illness is not isolated. Fellow NAMI member John Hughes’ daughter was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 15. Both have joined efforts with NAMI’s Eastside affiliate in Redmond by working for the organization.

Hughes said, “My interest in the walk and NAMI and mental illness is a bit of a legacy toward her life (Hughes’ daughter), and making sure that we stick with our support for those with mental illness.”

He calls mental illness a “silent epidemic,” but one that can be helped. Hughes says that 70 percent of people with mental illness can recover.

His own daughter’s life is a testament to the success of NAMI. “We included her in everything we did as a family,” he said. “She was reasonably independent, had a part-time job in food service, owned an apartment, spent time with family, and on her own made a lot of friends.”

Likewise, Thibodeaux’s daughter benefitted from the NAMI resources. “Our daughter is a wonderful example of hope because she is doing great today,” she said.

But this response is unusual because many people lack the information and resources to help their loved ones. Both Thibodeaux and Hughes encourage Kirkland residents to join the estimated 1,500 to sign up and walk at 8 a.m. Saturday. Donations are accepted, but not required.

More importantly, people learn that there is help available, and that talking about mental illness is the first step to improvement. Hughes said that most people at the walk are open to talking about their experience with mental illness.

“We want to let people know that we’re not that different from everyone else,” he said.

For more information about NAMI Eastside, visit www.nami-eastside.org.

City Council Challenge

To help stomp the stigma of mental illness, city council members from Kirkland, Redmond and Bellevue are expected to participate in the NAMI walk on Saturday. Redmond City Councilmember Hank Meyers said the Redmond Council challenged Kirkland and Bellevue council members to participate in the walk. Each council member is worth five points, while a spouse or significant other will garner three points.

“Perhaps no group will benefit more from reducing the stigma of mental illness than elected officials,” said Meyers in an e-mail. He joked that the Redmond Council “wants to provide an example for lesser councils to follow. Obviously we had to challenge Kirkland. While they have home-field advantage, their council members seldom finish their first macchiato before noon. This is about bragging rights on the Eastside, and really neither Bellevue nor Kirkland has had much to brag about recently.”