Editor:

Another session of Family to Family classes is beginning Sept. 8th. These classes, offered by NAMI Casper, are free to the public for the benefit of the caretakers and families and friends of those persons having a mental illness.

Mental illness is a brain disorder. It is not a deficiency of character. It is not poor will power. It is not a lack of intelligence. Mental illness can take a myriad of forms that always have one thing in common - it leaves the ill person and their families baffled, confused, frustrated, angry and often hopeless.

I know these things to be true based on my own experience of having a family member with a serious mental illness. I despaired of ever again having a life that didn't include constant fighting and utter chaos. My expectations for the Family to Family classes were extremely low, but I took them out of a sense of having nowhere else to turn.

It became a true life altering experience, brought about by a new understanding and empathy for what my family member was living with. I was in fact so inspired by the classes that I joined NAMI Casper to become an advocate for the mentally ill.

I urge everyone who cares for or lives with a person having a mental illness to sign up for the Family to Family classes. Please call Chris or Charlotte at 265-6173 for more information.

BECKY FOSTER, Casper

President, National Alliance on

Mental Illness