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Mental health advocate retires

Sally Fiehrer

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By Chelsey Levingston, Staff Writer Updated 7:54 PM Friday, June 3, 2011

HAMILTON — The woman who founded, then led the Butler County Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness retired Tuesday after 22 years.

For 18 of those years, Sally Fiehrer ran the organization as a volunteer. On Sunday is an open house from 2 to 5 p.m. at Courtyard by Marriott in Hamilton in celebration of her retirement.

Rhonda Benson, who has been associate director for two years, will become executive director, Fiehrer said. Kathleen Stevens will become associate director. But don’t expect Fiehrer to be gone permanently — she plans to still volunteer.

“It’s been a very rewarding experience for me,” Fiehrer said. “I found a little niche for myself.”

NAMI is an educational, support and resources group for families who have members with mental health issues. Fiehrer’s colleagues said the 2008 YWCA Woman of Achievement has done a tremendous job with a big heart and compassion that comes from personal experience as the mother of a son with a mental illness.

One in four families is affected by one of the major brain disorders: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, severe depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and different anxiety and social disorders, Fiehrer said.

Since she founded the local NAMI chapter, Fiehrer said new medication and early identification, especially in the past 10 to 15 years, has provided better treatments for people with brain disorders. Also, she said, people are now more open about it, which has reduced the stigma associated with mental illnesses prevalent when she started.

“They can reach people in a way we as professionals really can’t,” Terry Royer, executive director of the Butler County Mental Health Board, said of NAMI. “I think that’s really powerful.”

NAMI, which rents office space from the mental health board at its office on Boymel Drive in Fairfield, offers services such as Family to Family, a 12-week educational course for families of adults will an illness; Hand to Hand, which is transitioning to NAMI Basics, a 9-week educational course for families of youth 16 and younger with a brain disorder; a support group for graduates of courses to stay involved that meets the first Thursday of the month; a book club that meets the second Thursday of the month; and educational meetings the third Thursday of the month, Fiehrer said. The nonprofit’s main source of funding is an annual walk held now for six years every October that attracts approximately 300 people. Fiehrer organizes the walk.

Nancy Young, the mother of a bipolar adult, has been involved with NAMI for 12 years. Young said it’s hard to understand if you don’t have a family member with a brain disorder, but that Fiehrer has passion and compassion for those families.

“I think we help each other by sharing our experiences and supporting each other,” Young said.

As chief executive officer of Transitional Living, a comprehensive provider of mental health services, Kathy Becker has worked closely with Fiehrer over the years. Fiehrer has helped bust the stigma of what people think of mental health, said Becker, also a former Hamilton councilwoman.

“Sally’s the most kind-hearted, big-hearted individual I’ve ever met,” she said.