After Nancy Eigel-Miller lost her husband Jim to suicide she launched the James W. Miller Memorial Fund to honor his life and raise awareness around mental health. What started as a 1-mile fundraising run grew into a 5K called The Warrior Run, where proceeds help to fund mental health education programs at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Beginning in 2014, the James W. Miller Memorial Fund shifted from funding the children’s hospital to implementing mental health education programming at various Cincinnati high schools and five local universities. Following a highly successful gala in 2016, the organization again shifted to change its name to 1N5 to highlight the statistic that one in every five adults and adolescents lives with mental illness.
“Today, the mission of 1N5 is to prevent suicide by erasing the stigma of mental illness and promoting optimal mental wellness,” the organization says. “We do this work in five pillars: education and programming; stigma reduction; community engagement and outreach; policy and advocacy; and measurement and data. 1N5 now supports mental health and suicide prevention programs that service over 130 local schools, 150,000 students per year, 72 community partners, and six universities.”
The team behind 1N5 is comprised of educators and mental health advocates who work with local schools and community partners. It’s also the only organization in the region that creates a customized mental health plan for each school partnership based on an initial needs assessment and climate survey. Programming through 1N5 is available for students, caregivers, and educators and includes educator wellness to support teachers who are facing stress and burnout.
1N5 also strives to address the needs of the community, as the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has put a lot of stress on the mental health and wellbeing of many in the community. “1N5s Community Mental Health Educator program applies what we have learned through our work with schools to communities that have limited access to mental health resources and where stigma is often even higher,” says 1N5. “By working with corporate and community who have established trust in targeted areas, we are beginning to provide the same life-saving mental education, stigma reduction, and suicide prevention programs across Greater Cincinnati neighborhoods.”
To learn more about 1N5, visit their website.
