Are you a parent, sibling, partner, spouse, or daughter or son of someone with a mental illness? Use your valuable lived experience to support another family member.

A Family Match Mentor provides one-to-one support over the phone for 3 months. You are paired with someone in the same relationship, loving someone with similar symptoms or diagnoses.

Through your good instincts and training in active listening, you’ll help other family members:

• Gain mental health support and feel less alone
• Understand resources at NAMI-NYC and beyond
• Maintain smooth, realistic relationships with their loved one
• Prioritize their self-care

You know the demands of loving someone struggling with mental health challenges and you know the power of support. You can provide validation and connection in the most meaningful way – because you’ve been there.

Note: Any family member may apply to be a mentor. In particular, we need more partner/spouse mentors, parent mentors, and sibling mentors, especially those bilingual in English and Spanish.

NAMI-NYC online support groups are hosted by a trained volunteer who is living with a mental health condition and/or is a family member.

Support Group Hosts provide participants with attendance and other forms, resources, and technical support, on our online support groups, via Zoom. We have support groups that meet on weekday afternoons, weekday evenings, and Saturdays.

• Hosts commit to at least one support group per month for two hours.
• Hosts must be available for one-hour debriefs. Initial training is a one-hour session, followed by shadowing at least two support group sessions.
• Excellent communication skills are required; multilingual a plus.
• Knowledge of navigating search engines, Gmail and Microsoft tools is required.
• Host volunteers must identify as someone with a mental health condition, or as a family member of someone with a mental health condition.

FYI… We require our group facilitators to start as hosts, so if you are thinking you would like to be a facilitator someday, definitely apply to be a host. You should also attend at least one relevant support group.

Support Group Host is open to everyone. However, we are currently looking specifically for Black folks to host Black Minds Matter, our support group for and led by Black people living with mental health conditions.

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There is a high volume of interest in the Support Group Host role, and unfortunately, we cannot accept all applicants. There is currently a waitlist for Host applicants. If you would like to be added to the list, please request a link to the application – we’re happy to have you – but understand it will take time.

Ending the Silence is a 50-minutes presentation for Junior High and High School students.

An Ending the Silence Presenter works in teams of two: a “lead presenter” (a family member or an individual living with a mental illness) and a “young adult presenter” (someone 18-30 years old, living in recovery from a mental illness).

Both roles require training with NAMI-NYC. ETS presentations are done during school hours and in the evening – anyone interested must be available sometime between 8am to 7pm ET, Mondays through Fridays.

The Ending the Silence presenter must identify as someone with lived experience of a mental health condition, or as a family member of someone with a mental illness.

NOTE: We are always looking for bilingual English/Spanish speakers for this role. If that’s you, let us know.

As we begin to re-open our office to in-person programs, we are looking for people to serve as greeters to attendees.

• Arrive one hour before the start of the assigned program or event.
• Assist with room set up.
• Welcome participants!
• Provide masks if needed.
• Direct participants to our office (downstairs greeter) or to the correct program room (upstairs greeter).
• Assist participants with attendance form using QR code or tablet (upstairs greeter).

Greeters commit to staying at the office for 90 minutes at their scheduled time.

• Must be comfortable working with people.
• Must commute to the NAMI-NYC office at W. 38th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan.
• Must comply with NAMI-NYC’s COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

NOTE: We are not currently accepting applications for Greeters.