NAMI Seattle recognizes that…

• As with all other systems in the United States, the mental health system is deeply impacted by institutional racism, which is harmful to people of color at all levels of society.
• Mental health culture, stigma, and systems impact people differently based on many factors, including how their race and ethnicity is perceived.
• Communities of color are more likely to experience poorer quality of care, bias or discrimination, and misdiagnosis when they engage with the mental health system.

As an organization, NAMI Seattle believes that…

• All people have the right to safe, appropriate, respectful, accessible, and consistent mental health treatment and support options.
• Racism and racial bias often manifest in ways that are subtle and perpetrated by those of us with the best of intentions.
• If we do not continually work to proactively address and eliminate racial inequities in our organization, our community, our city, and beyond, then we are passively condoning them.

As NAMI Seattle staff and program volunteers, we commit to…

• Holding each other accountable, with respect and kindness, for the impact (not just the intent) of our words and actions.
• Recognizing that each person is the expert on their own lived experience, and we will not invalidate or try to explain away someone’s personal experience.
• Striving to amplify the voices and experiences of those most impacted by injustice and inequity.
• Creating a learning community, where mistakes are acknowledged and used as tools for growth and evolution, and no one is expected to know everything.
• Using NAMI Seattle’s organizational values of Kindness, Community, Empowerment and Integrity to guide the work that we do to address racial inequities within our organization and beyond.

Click here to download a PDF of this statement.