The comments below were read by Karen Galinkin at the beginning of the NAMI Basics Teacher Training in Denver Colorado. Dr. and Mrs. Galinkin named NAMI Arapahoe Douglas as the recipient of memorials in memory of their 14 year old son Zac who died by suicide in December 2014. When asked what the family wanted done with the almost $10,000 in donations, they said they wanted NAMI Basics brought to the community to try and help other families.

NAMI August 1, 2015

The money for this program was raised in memory of my son Zac Galinkin, who killed himself December 16, 2014. He was 14 years old. He was smart, funny, kind, caring of others and a gifted musician and poet, to name a few of his characteristics. He was also mentally ill. Today I want to speak on the mental illness.

I have learned that you can do everything possible to help a mentally ill child and still have the end result of suicide. We took Zac to hospitals and doctors, psychiatrists and therapists, residential treatment, the list goes on and on. Through all of that there was never anyone there for us the parents and family. We had supportive friends and family, but none of them really knew or understood what we were going through. No one was really able to advise us. I felt that we were reinventing the wheel as if no one had ever done this before.

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If you had symptoms of mental illness as a child, the idea of normality eventually came into question. Nightmares, abuse, acting out, pot smoking, using harder drugs and social isolation overtook my reality. These sufferings, manifesting disease, cast me out from college. Clinical signs of anxiety, depression, psychosis and mania seemed to lead naturally to self-medication.

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I got involved with nami at the age of 18. They have helped me a lot since then. I have made new friends with NAMI. It is nice to know that I am not alone. Before I joined I always felt like no one cared, They took that feeling away and made me feel safe, and I believe we need more programs like NAMI. I was born with post traumatic stress disorder, and am also mentally disabled in other more severe ways. NAMI showed me that I don’t need to be afraid I just need to believe in myself. I need to be myself. They showed me that there are people who care and always will care. Anyway that’s my story. I know it may seem short but its as true as they come. Thanks NAMI for teaching me that there are people who care.

Hello, my name Daniel and I struggle with Schizophrenia. It really all started with me being to scared to get near under my bed, in which I would jump to my bed from as far from my bed as I could, occasionally making me hit my arm or knee of the bed frame. Next, I’d look up to a figure staring at me or going to another room and someone is staring at something. Finally, the delusions were the worst part. I’d think if the full moon was full, I would be unsafe, I thought my limbs were turning purple or that someone was after me. My friends would tell me nobody is where I’m saying one of my hallucinations would be or would say that the moon or something would hurt me. I didn’t believe I had Schizophrenia or any other mental illness but finally, I believed my friends after the first psychotic episode. I was stressed over school and decided to go on a walk and sit down for a while. I constantly got worried someone was behind me and would look behind me often. Finally, i looked behind me and a figure was staring at me and started walking towards me. I kept saying, ”Please leave me alone,” or “Please dont hurt me.”

Anyway, now I’m with friends that help me through it and understand.