Montgomery Smashing The Stigma
The statistics tell a clear story. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) reports that one in five Americans live with a mental health condition. With the support of our City Council, the City began a mental health initiative to help break the stigma. As a small local government, providing treatment for mental illness was not feasible. Still, the City believes we are responsible for being a conduit and connecting people with groups and solutions that are out there when they need it most.
Montgomery Smashing The Stigma
Nancy Eigel-Miller - Founder of 1N5
The City of Montgomery began researching mental health issues as a result of a community survey health assessment conducted in 2019. The assessment identified mental health issues as a top concern. This was compounded by the effects of the pandemic. As a result, the Administration and City Council created a mental health initiative that provides educational presentations and resources to the community.
Today, we welcome Nancy Eigel-Miller, who lost her husband Jim to suicide in 2008. Nancy is the founder of 1N5. The organization’s mission is to prevent suicide by erasing the stigma of mental illness and promoting optimal mental wellness.
1N5
Panel Discussion from August 29, 2024
Thank you for joining us for the Montgomery Insider Podcast. I'm Amy Frederick. Joining me are Matthew Vanderhorst Community Information Services Director and Connie Gaylor, Executive assistant. Both are on the city's mental health team. Matthew and Connie, why don't you give us some background on the city's mental health initiative?
MATTHEW VANDERHORST:The City of Montgomery began researching mental health issues as a result of a community survey health assessment conducted in 2019. The assessment identified mental health issues as a top concern. This was compounded by the effects of the pandemic. As a result, Administration and City Council created a mental health initiative that provides educational presentations and resources to the community.
CONNIE GAYLOR:To add on to what Matthew said, while most local governments aren't in this arena, we readily recognize that we aren't clinicians, but we can be the conduit to provide resources as a service to the community.
AMY FREDERICK:That is so true, and to bring awareness to ending the stigma surrounding mental health, which is a great segue to today's guest. We want to thank everyone who attended our powerful four-panel discussion on suicide signs, symptoms, and treatment on August 29th. The discussion was so impactful that we wanted to invite our panelists back to expand on our conversation. If you missed the presentation, you can watch it on the City of Montgomery's YouTube channel. We will put the link in the show notes.
MATTHEW VANDERHORST:Today, we welcome Nancy Eigel-Miller, who lost her husband Jim to suicide in 2008. Nancy is the founder of 1N5. The organization’s mission is to prevent suicide by erasing the stigma of mental illness and promoting optimal mental wellness.
AMY FREDERICK:Nancy, please tell our listeners about your journey.
NANCY EIGEL-MILLER:My journey began back in 2008 when my husband, Jim died by suicide very unexpectedly, and I spent about two years just educating myself about what was going on in this space, what I had missed and what I was. I really what was really important to me at that point is, is that youth is really where mental illness is starting So by the age of 14, 50% of mental illnesses surfaced by the age of 24, 75% as surfaced in. It takes about 8 to 10 years to get service today. So we started looking at how do we support in schools. We didn't start really doing that work until about 2015, and today we work with about 220 schools, and we work with about 85 community organizations, and we're starting to do the work corporately as well.
MATTHEW VANDERHORST:Nancy, tell us about the name 1 in 5 and how that came to be. And what are the statistics today?
NANCY EIGEL-MILLER:So the 1 in 5, at the point that we created the organization, 1 in 5 people are impacted by mental illness. And that's how we came up with our name. But today the reality is, is that in the in the youth population, it's about 1 in 3. In the adult population, it's about 1 in 4 today.
AMY FREDERICK:So what was the time frame between your Jim's loss and when you started getting going?
NANCY EIGEL-MILLER:So he died in 2008. And I really there was a actually a psychiatrist that his her husband golfed with my dad, and I didn't know her at all. And she's like, can I talk to your daughter? Like, can I talk to her? And so we like, we would go out to coffee and she's like, tell me about gym. Tell me about his personality. Tell me things you noticed. And so she really educated me. Like, she's like, he probably knew from a very early age that he had a mental illness, like, five, and that he created that persona like a Robin Williams person. Like you put on the mask. You're really goofy. You're really silly. You entertain everybody. And she's like, but it's it. Things happen in life. Like, you can't keep doing that. At some point there's some break that happens. And for him it was he was a major runner. And he had he had both of he had knee surgery on both of his knees and he couldn't run the distance anymore. And the one thing he said to me was my spirit doesn't soar anymore. Like I don't get that feeling anymore. But you know, so for like two years, I really educated myself and there was a bunch of his friends created a walk in Mariemont, like he died in July, and they did it in October, and it was called the Jim Miller Memorial Mile. So the first year there was like 800 people. The second year there was like 400 people. And my kids are like, this will go away and we will have done nothing. And I was like, okay. So I went to all those guys. There was like 12 of his friends that did it. And I said, can we turn this into A5K and can we raise money? And they were like, sure. So I started looking at programs that existed, and children's had a program that was called Surviving the Teens. And so from 2010 2015, 100% of our money went to them to do that education. And then in 2014, there was a student down at UC, Brogan Dulle, who was missing for eight days. He had died by suicide, and there were thousands of people out looking for him. And so when they found him, I, I sent an email to Santa Ono, who was the president, and he called me almost instantly and said, come to my office. And he's like, you need to do more. Like, I'm going to tell. He's like, my story is, is that I have attempted suicide twice. I've never talked about it. And so he connected me with all the university presidents to begin with. And so that's where we started doing that. And then he we had an event in 2016 that was called 1 in 5. That was the first time we used that name. And he told his story. And he also was really good with media. And so by like 1030 that night, it was everywhere. People came out of the woodwork to say, how do I help you? And so I was still working full time at Gardner Business Media at that point. And so I quit my job almost immediately and started doing this full time.
CONNIE GAYLOR:How many local school districts are you working in?
NANCY EIGEL-MILLER:So we work with about 220 schools in the area, but that is in about 11 counties. So if you're in the greater Cincinnati area, it's probably about 180, something like that.
CONNIE GAYLOR:Wow. And you also mentioned during our panel presentation about the the colleges that you also work in and how many of those are you working in right now?
NANCY EIGEL-MILLER:We work with about six universities, all the really major universities in Cincinnati.
AMY FREDERICK:What would you tell somebody? I have a teenage daughter, and if I thought my daughter was in trouble, what would you tell a parent to do?
NANCY EIGEL-MILLER:The biggest thing that we really tell people to do is listen. So not be afraid to ask questions, to say, I notice a change in you. You seem unhappy. You seem disconnected from your friends. Your grades are starting to drop. What's going on? I'm worried. I'm here for you. I care about you, I love you. You can say anything to me. And then really to listen. What are they telling you? And they'll tell you. A lot of parents are like. They won't tell me. Yes, they will, because they want somebody to recognize that something is going on with them. And then once they do work with them to get them help. So it's now it's it's sort of your responsibility and you're going to walk that journey with them to how do I get them into counseling? Are there counselors at school that we can work with? Are there people out in the community that I know that we can work with, and then just really be present all the time? Don't try to solve the problem. You're not you're not the professional. You're you're not trained to do this. But you can listen and then you can get them to the help that they need.
AMY FREDERICK:I'm curious when you talk about your husband, Jim, do you feel like there were signs that maybe you missed and what were what was that like?
NANCY EIGEL-MILLER:So for me, I was very uneducated. He was a very loud, goofy person. And so he it was like a mask that he would put on all the time. Um, the things that we noticed is, is that he would he would get up and he would leave like we were together as a family. Um, he had a bunch of friends. He worked at Xavier. They would go out to lunch every day. He wasn't doing that anymore. Um, his sleep was very disrupted. That last month. He lost, like, £20. And I was like, how'd you lose £20? And he was just like, uh. Whatever. I just stop eating so much. But those are things that are signs that you should be paying attention to.
AMY FREDERICK:So you have you and Jim have two daughters? Yes we do. Do you think 1 in 5 was a way of healing and coping with Jim's loss?
NANCY EIGEL-MILLER:Absolutely. I mean, for me it was how do I how do I recognize the signs? How do I help other people recognize the signs that are out there? How do we get education so that people are more you normalize the conversation. People aren't afraid to have the conversation. And it definitely I mean, I say that I, you know, I, I worked for a long time out in the corporate space and I went to my job and I was really good at my job. And when I would go home at night, I felt good. But now I feel great. Like I know that we're helping people every single day.
AMY FREDERICK:So when you go into a school, what how do you reach kids? What's the best way to reach kids.
NANCY EIGEL-MILLER:So the first thing that we do when we go to schools is we do a climate survey. So we want to know how much knowledge do they have help seeking behaviors, resource knowledge, and then how comfortable are they in the situation. And then once we have that information about that school, we really start to look at where the where the highest needs and how do we start training in that space. So it could be from an adult standpoint, maybe the teachers. That's where we start. A lot of times we do QPR training, so all the adults in the space are trained and they know how to have that conversation. We do a lot of peer to peer. We do sources of strength, which is something because the kids talk to each other. So we want them to be able to run campaigns at the school where they are doing education, and they're encouraging people to have this conversation. And the other thing is, we really want the adults, like not only the teachers, but the parents, to be educated and to to understand what they're dealing with, what the resources are, how to have this conversation with their child.
CONNIE GAYLOR:With the statistic of how long it goes before it's identified and treated, you know. A decade. More than a decade for people. Mhm. Um, you don't even know it at a certain age if you would ever be diagnosed with something. Right. You're, you know, that you're just starting to show symptoms and feel, you know, feel that it's affecting you. So.
NANCY EIGEL-MILLER:But I think that's the big thing with parents that we talk a lot about because, you know, you think about 14 what's going on with a 14 year old. There are so many changes that are going on at that point in their life, and they're acting out and they're they have a lot of anger and frustration.
CONNIE GAYLOR:And there's you're thinking, is this hormones?
NANCY EIGEL-MILLER:Is this like, is this normal teenage behavior or is this like what I. And especially if it's a first child, like I'm not used to what this looks like. And and so a lot of times parents are like this is just normal teenage behavior. And you're like, no it's not.
AMY FREDERICK:Well, I also think that was so important when you said about teachers saying something, they see something because they see a whole different side of your child than you do. Oh, yeah. You're used to seeing that person at home. But when they're out, out in the wild with other people, it's a whole different person. So I think it is important that sometimes teachers spend more hours in the day with your child than you do. Right.
NANCY EIGEL-MILLER:And they and they're seeing things. They're seeing, uh, they have a norm for that child. How do they show up? What are their grades? How do they participate? Those kinds of things. And when it starts to change and like, suddenly the child is sleeping in your class or they're not turning their homework in or they're not doing well in quizzes. And normally they got straight A's. It's like somebody they need. Somebody needs to say something. I mean, the biggest thing that we talk about all the time is, is to educate yourself, to be informed and to ask questions. To not be afraid is the biggest thing, because a lot of times we'll even go into schools and we'll do trainings with teachers. And they're like, I can't ask that question. And you're like, yes, you can. Like, you're here, you know, this child. You have a relationship with this child. It's your job. Like, you see something, say something.
CONNIE GAYLOR:Do you think that's just the fear that if they ask a question, they're going to put the thought in the child's mind that they think isn't there?
NANCY EIGEL-MILLER:Well, there's a lot of people think that we know all the research shows that that's not true, that you can't put the thought into someone's head. It's already there. So really, it's more of a relief to most people that somebody recognizes that something's going on and they're asking a question, because a lot of times people feel very isolated at that time that they're just like, nobody understands, nobody sees, nobody is is understanding of how I'm feeling. And so once somebody recognizes it and says, I'm here for you, let's talk. It's usually a huge relief.
AMY FREDERICK:So what would you say is the future for 1 in 5?
NANCY EIGEL-MILLER:Well, the need is very high. I mean, it continues to grow. Um, we continue to add more schools, community organizations. And as I said, we're starting to do more work corporately. I think that there's a huge opportunity in that space. Um, I think that there are about five years behind where schools are. From a stigma standpoint, there's still a lot of pushback. This isn't our job. This isn't our responsibility. Um, people are supposed to come to work and work and and I think a lot of managers after the pandemic have raised their hand to say, you're putting me in a situation that I'm not trained, I don't know how to have a conversation with somebody. I don't know what to do with them when they come to me for advice. And so it's it's starting to really impact the bottom line because of absenteeism, because of that, they just they, they, they might be sitting at their desk, but they're not really working because they're overwhelmed by what's going on in their life. I mean, for just people to understand that it can impact anyone is, I think is a huge thing out there. You know, it's like everybody's like, oh, it's the homeless person that's on the square and that's who. That's the person with the mental illness. And you're like, oh no. Like when you say when you would say like at the beginning when we were doing it and you'd be in a classroom and you're like, it's 1 in 5 of us. So let's look around, okay. So in this room, there's 25 of us and 1 in 5 of us has a mental illness. And people are like hmm. That makes it real.
CONNIE GAYLOR:And you know we had, we had you come and you've partnered with us several times on different things for community presentations but also staff training. And so we did QPR training here at the city. And we also did the the wellness wheel conversation and all of that was so beneficial to us. Um, but we were able to reach out and then from just the first presentation learned things we needed to do here at the city for our staff. How? What is the best way for people to reach out to you or to the organization so that they can get more information and maybe about the training or presentations?
NANCY EIGEL-MILLER:So we have a very robust website. That's one. It's the number one, the letter N, the number 5.org. We can there's all everybody's contact information is out there. So our our phone numbers and our email addresses are out there. So the best thing is to either give us a call or to send somebody an email. You guys have done an amazing job as a city. I think that you're the shining star. You know that everybody needs to look to, to see what what it could look like, what the model could look like. But I think as a, as doing it as a city impacts everybody that lives here. And you know, it's normalizing the conversation, which is the most important thing that people aren't afraid to have the conversation and to ask questions and to get help.
AMY FREDERICK:Nancy, thank you for joining us on our podcast and sharing your journey with our listeners. Again, if you missed the four-panel presentation on suicide, you can watch it on the City of Montgomery's YouTube channel. We will put on the link in the show notes. If you or a loved one are in crisis and need immediate help, call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.