Volunteer

Ready to Help?

NAMI Central Middlesex is an all volunteer organization. Our volunteers offer their skills, experience, and empathy to help improve the mental health journey of others. We touch people and make a difference. Our team is a group of caring, energetic individuals who keep NAMI supports in place for those in need and organize the unique programs offered by our affiliate like the College Panel, Emerson Resource Flyers, Faith Communities Forum, Scarecrow Contest, Crisis Cards, and our Community Outreach Tables. Please consider adding that “feels good to help others” feeling to your life by volunteering for our affiliate. In many cases, your ability to help us out for just a few hours will make an impact. If the options noted below don’t fit your skills or interest, please reach out to us about your passions regarding supporting those living with mental health conditions. Contact us at nami.cmsx@gmail.com to further discuss your options as an active volunteer.


Open Volunteer Positions

Off Board Roles

Walks Team: Does fundraising get your juices going? Help us organize our affiliate’s participation in NAMI Walks, raise funds for mental health support, and plan a great stigma free day. Our affiliate often ranks as one of the higher performing fundraisers for the NAMI Walks Massachusetts event, so we know we have a strong Walks Team in place. We want to share the work load and expand our reach. The strength of our affiliate’s contribution to NAMI Walks MA is the dedicated commitment of NAMI Central Middlesex members but also our focus on hosting and sharing our enthusiasm, and our walk proceeds, with other like-minded mental health support organizations, including the local DMH Clubhouses and the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA.)

If you are a strong communicator, like to motivate others, and have a desire to support NAMI’s mission, a role supporting the Walk effort might be just the opportunity to join a great team and give back. The busy time for this team is generally mid-February through the end of May with some effort needed during the months before and after. To learn more about the roles associated with the Walk, contact us at nami.cmsx@gmail.com.

 

Spring Fling Event Coordinator: Each April we invite members of the area Clubhouses to a dinner/dance event in Bedford with a pasta buffet and a DJ. We’ve done this for many years and have a well practiced plan for setting up the event. A new event coordinator could easily slip in and organize the party for 2025.

Library Brochure Distribution
The libraries in our communities welcome display material about mental health. We drop off our tri-fold Central Middlesex brochure to the libraries in our twenty-one communities. Easy to do on your time schedule, and it is OK to choose to be responsible for a few towns within the geography we cover.

Social Media
We’ve ramped up our social media outreach and had good success connecting to our constituency via ads through Meta. Additional hands to help design posts and offer insight into an advanced social media marketing approach are welcome.

Community Information Tables Outreach Team: We host mental health information tables at community events throughout the year. This public facing effort needs friendly NAMI members who can offer a smile, a kind word, and information about NAMI programs. This option is often a shift of just a few hours on a weekend day.

The Community Outreach Assistant serves as the communication link for the program. We receive inquiries and need to register for about 15 events per year that wish to host one of our mental health information tables. The Outreach Assistant is responsible for corresponding with the contacts for these events and keeping our affiliate’s calendar of commitments. There is also the secondary role of scheduling volunteers to greet the public at the tables. We have a running list of people willing to do this work. The volunteer scheduling role could be peeled off this responsibility and handled by a second person.

Offering an empathic ear and tips about available resources to those who stop by our table at town events is a great way to welcome others to our mental health community.


Course Leaders & Group Facilitators

The demand for our classes and support groups is strong, and we are always interested in training new course leaders and group facilitators. Individuals interested in a teaching role could be prior students of the course or willing to take the course after the training. Those interested in being a support group facilitator should have experience attending our support groups. Training sessions generally involve one and half days of curriculum, scheduled over a weekend. New trainees will be paired with experienced volunteers. Please reach out to us to discuss training to fulfill these important support/education roles at the core of NAMI’s mission.


Board Positions

Each January we welcome new members to our board. Their backgrounds and interests differ, but they all want to help build better lives for people living with mental health conditions and their families. If you enjoy operating on the big picture level of an organization with dedicated colleagues, consider joining the Central Middlesex board. Our team meets monthly via Zoom, generally on the second Monday evening of the month. Tell us about your areas of interest around supporting others and improving our behavioral health care system. Board activities are listed at the bottom of this page.


Please contact us at nami.cmsx@gmail.com to discuss how you might participate.

 
Board Meetings

For those interested in how we operate, members are welcome to attend our monthly meetings, where the board members plan our activities. There are many roles to fill and activities to complete, and you need not be a full time voting board member to help out.

For those up for a larger commitment, we nominate and welcome new voting members to the board each January. We need the benefit of energy, passion, and skill in a variety disciplines to keep our affiliate operating smoothly. Many first join the board as a “member at large,” and define their role as their interest and experience evolves.

The meetings are held remotely via video conferencing, usually on the second Monday evening of the month.


Board Roles & Activities

  • Finance:  Treasurer, Community Donations, Grants, Auditor

  • Membership:  Membership Coordinator

  • Communications: Secretary, Website, Constant Contact, Social Media, Publicity, Minutes, Newsletter

  • Education & Support:  Support Groups, Classes

  • Affiliate Social Events:  Annual Meeting, Spring Fling. Tan & Plan

  • Fundraising:  NAMI Walks

  • Community Events: Faith Communities Forum, College Panel, Scarecrow Contest

  • Advocacy: NAMI MA Advocacy Team, Advocacy Day

  • Community Outreach: NAMI Info Tables, Brochure Distribution, Mental Health Awareness Presentations, Community Connections 


Current Board Members

All current board members may be contacted through the affiliate email address, namicmsx@gmail.com.

President: Lori Krinsky
Vice President: Dawn Bentley
Treasurer: Jennie Payne
Secretary: Open
Community Outreach Coordinator: Judy McKendry
NAMIWalks Coordinator: Tom Scurfield
Advocacy Coordinator: Lori Krinsky
Support & Education Coordinator: Ivy Pompei
Board Member at Large: Dee Febba