MOULTRIE, Ga. — The National Alliance on Mental Illness presented its Recovery Happens speaker series Friday to celebrate the beginning of Mental Health Month.

As part of Mental Health Month, NAMI along with other mental health awareness groups, presented three speakers as well as a proclamation from Moultrie Mayor William McIntosh. NAMI President Lynn Wilson opened the program by thanking all those in attendance and announcing that NAMI will resume in-person meetings starting in June. 

“Today’s event is not only about spreading awareness of mental illness but the recovery that happens after seeking assistance,” said Wilson in her opening speech.

The proclamation read by McIntosh gave background statistics highlighting the scope of individuals affected by mental illness. He then proclaimed that the month of May 2021 will be Mental Health Month. 

“I further call upon our citizens, government agencies, public and private institutions, business and schools to commit to increasing awareness and understanding of mental illnesses,” said McIntosh after his proclamation.

Wilson then presented the RESPECT Institute speaker, Charles Derreberry. He spoke of his time being a professional wrestler and how it led him towards substance abuse and mental health struggles as well as his recovery.

“I was a boy in a man’s world… I was lost in a world that I couldn’t understand,” said Derreberry. “Recovery is awesome but it takes time and it takes work and it’s hard.”

After Derreberry finished speaking, Wilson introduced the NAMI’s “In Our Own Voice” speaker presentation. The speakers were NAMI Vice President Todd Lynch and NAMI and Turning Point graduate Kelley Jones.

The purpose of the “In Our Own Voice” presentation is to allow those who have dealt with and are recovering from mental illness to share their stories, according to Wilson. Both men shared stories from their lives that led them to and through addiction, mental illness and recovery.

“I called every place in the Maryland area and they all said, ‘We can’t take you, we don’t have beds or we don’t take your insurance,’” said Lynch. “One of them suggested Turning Point in Moultrie, Ga., so I got on a plane with everything I could fit in one suitcase and I came here and I got help.”

The main objectives of the “In Our Own Voice” presentation are to showcase what the speakers were like before recovery, what happened for them to decide they need to make a change and what happens after recovery.

“I’m happy I’m alive. There have been few moments in my life I’ve been happy. There is trauma and guilt that I deal with on a daily basis but I’m happy today,” said Jones.

Lynch ended the event by emphasizing the need for people to talk about mental health issues.

“Besides the fight inside our heads, we are fighting the stigma of mental health. Both are constant fights and neither can be fought without speaking to others,” he said.