Mother Finds Mental Health Lifeline Through Online Support Groups During Pandemic

TOOELE, Utah – In-person support groups were a lifeline for a Tooele mother who suffers from a severe mental illness. When COVID-19 made it necessary to cancel those sessions, she wasn’t sure where to turn.

Now, online therapy may be taking a bigger role in future mental health treatments.

Charity Wilson loves her 3-year-old daughter, Annabelle Rose. She works hard to stay healthy for her.

“My main struggle is bipolar,” said Wilson. “I have psychotic episodes where I will just disappear.”

Wilson was diagnosed 10 years ago. Therapy and peer-based support groups through NAMI Utah, the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Health, have helped her become well.

“You just feel so much better. You’re ready to go and you feel that hopefulness that you can give it your everything,” she said.

When COVID-19 hit, NAMI transitioned those support groups and classes online.

“I live out in Tooele, out in the middle of nowhere, and it was great to just jump online and to get automatically connected with people from all over the state,” Wilson said.

Jeff Olsen facilitates those meetings through Zoom and trained other volunteers to help as well.

“It’s gone really well,” Olsen said. The change has extended their reach to rural areas, as well as to parents without childcare and young people who prefer the convenience of online help.

“I think that has been kind of an unintended benefit of the whole thing, that we’re actually reaching more people now than I think we were with the standard brick and mortar classrooms,” he said.

Olsen knows how important help is in a crisis. “She was on a mission in Oklahoma, 4.0 scholarship student, Miss ‘Everything.’ Then literally, the lights went out,” he said.

His daughter, Stacy, has schizoaffective disorder, a mental illness that includes schizophrenia and mood disorder symptoms. He relied heavily on NAMI support groups to cope.

“It’s usually something somebody wants to hide. You don’t run around and tell your neighbors, ‘Hey, my daughter’s mentally ill,’ and they all come pitying her,” he said. “They usually stand back and say, ‘Can I talk to her? Is it okay?'”

Owen Ashton also knows the struggle well.

“You feel so alone often with mental illness, like you’re the only person in the world that has it and that feels this way,” Ashton said.

He is the president of the board at NAMI Utah and suffers from depression. He said the video meetings are just as effective as in-person meetings.

“I was pleasantly surprised that it was just like being there in the room,” Ashton said. Really positive experience. I felt like we really connected. When you can find other people that you really relate to, that makes a huge difference.”

It has worked so well that NAMI plans to provide support online long after COVID-19 is over.

Wilson said that’s good news. Although she hopes her group can meet in-person soon, she thinks continuing online support will reach more people. “I think it’s something that I would 110 percent take advantage of for sure,” she said. “There is hope and there is a better future always.”

NAMI volunteers and staff are hoping to help more people in need now and in the future.