Mental Illness Awareness Week

According to NAMI Sioux Falls, of South Dakota's approximately 800,000 residents, close to 30,000 adults live with serious mental illness and about 9,000 children live with serious mental health conditions. In 1990, the U.S. Congress established the first full week of October as Mental Illness Awareness Week in recognition of NAMI's efforts to raise mental illness awareness. On Sunday, NAMI Sioux Falls is sponsoring a Candlelight Vigil and 8-Block Candle Light Walk at First Lutheran Church at 12th & Dakota. The evening begins with Prayer and Scripture in Christ the Victor Chapel at 6:00 p.m. and an optional 8-Block Candle Light Walk follows the program. Wendy Geibink, executive director of National Alliance of Mental Illness, and former executive director Phyllis Arends, talk about the program.