In its own words, “The National Federation of Families supports families across the lifespan. Families whose loved ones experience mental health and/or substance use disorders during their lifetime. We believe our children are our children for life and parents and caregivers are the experts on what their families need.”
I want to tell you what the Federation means to me.
I attended my first Federation conference in the late 1990s. I wasn’t a mom yet and was working as a psychologist. I was beginning to learn that doing every part of my work in partnership with families improved things: kids stayed in school, families stayed together, and everyone enjoyed each other more. At that conference, I learned there were families nationwide helping providers like me transform their practices so kids get the help they need.
Families at that conference invited me to a candlelight vigil to remember children who had died of suicide and other mental health-related causes. Those families taught me the importance of standing together in our rawest and most vulnerable moments. They taught me they would stand with me, even when that meant facing things in my own profession, and sometimes in myself, that needed to change.
I gave birth to my dear son in 2000. He has dealt with some tough challenges from a young age. The first time I went to a school meeting for him, I sat and cried in the car because I was too scared to go in. Then I thought about families I had met through the Federation and their unwavering advocacy for their children. I dried my tears and went inside. Families taught me the power of shared lived experience and peer support.
In 2011, the board of Families as Allies, Mississippi’s chapter of the Federation, hired me as the executive director. I knew little about running a nonprofit. A week after I started, the United States Department of Justice issued a damning letter about Mississippi’s mental health system. Reporters were calling. I was trying to figure out how in the world to set up a family peer support program in Mississippi. I was lost.
I once again turned to the Federation. The Federation staff, family leaders and other family-run organization executive directors supported and mentored me. The Federation backed me every time Families as Allies demanded that the state address the issues that left children without mental health care. I learned the Federation had spent years researching and establishing family peer support competencies and an ethical code. To this day, we base our parent peer support curriculum on the Federation’s research and ethics.
I share my story to emphasize this point. Just as the Federation has supported me as a mental health practitioner, mom and leader of a family-run organization, the Federation supports thousands of mental health practitioners and families and hundreds of family-run organizations day in and day out every year.
Those people and organizations then support children who have a better chance of succeeding and thriving because of that support. What could be more important?
Now in 2025, I am humbled and touched to be the president of the National Federation of Families board of directors. My fellow board members are a compassionate and dedicated group; it is an honor to work with them. We are committed to the Federation being robust, sustainable and available to every family, family-run organization and partner that reaches out. We are working diligently to diversify our funding and make the Federation even stronger. I urge you to join us. These are ways you can help:
- Donate to the National Federation of Families. You can donate online. Contact Dr. Lynda Gargan, executive director (phone: 240-403-1901 email: ffcmh@ffcmh.org) if you’d like to make a larger or ongoing donation.
- Sponsor the National Federation of Families’ annual conference in November 2025. Your sponsorship will help the Federation while highlighting your organization’s work to families and partners nationwide.
- Attend the Federation’s virtual annual conference on November 3rd, 5th and 7th. You will gain a wealth of valuable knowledge and your registration fees help support the work of the Federation.
- Assist us in identifying strategic partnerships that support the Federation’s mission and fiscal sustainability.
- Help us identify potential board members who are passionate about the Federation’s mission and well-versed in philanthropy and fundraising.
At Families as Allies, we end all of our meetings with the phrase, “go forth and conquer” because we know that, working together, there is absolutely nothing we cannot accomplish for our children. Those words are ringing in my ears now. Let’s go forth and conquer.
Support and stand with the Federation, just as it has stood with each of our children—and each of us—every day.
