Live a better life through community

In 1997 the Rodwell Dart Memorial Foundation was set up in memory of Roddy Dart, who tragically died of a traumatic brain injury thirteen years ago while celebrating his twenty-second birthday in Aspen, Colorado. Roddy battled bipolar illness for much of his short adult life. In the early 1990’s there existed little awareness and understanding of teenage depression. The Rodwell Dart Memorial Foundation (directed by Hailey Dart, founding director, and Lindsay Dart, Roddy’s younger sister) was established to fund programs devoted to increasing awareness and understanding of teenage depression and bipolar disorder, while hopefully reducing the stigma surrounding these illnesses.

The StrengthofUs community was developed in loving memory of Roddy Dart. NAMI greatly appreciates the generous support of the Rodwell Dart Memorial Foundation for this project. Without the Foundation's vision and support, StrengthofUs would not have been possible. More information about Roddy and the Foundation's valuable work is included below.

To learn more about Roddy Dart, visit the About page.

From its inception in 1979, NAMI has been dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness.

For three decades, NAMI has established itself as the most formidable grassroots mental health advocacy organization in the country. Dedication, steadfast commitment and unceasing belief in NAMI's mission by grassroots advocates have produced profound changes. NAMI's greatest strength is the dedication of our grassroots leaders and members. We are the families, friends and individuals that serve to strengthen communities across the country.

Due in large part to generous individual, corporate, and foundation donations, NAMI is able to build on its success and continue to focus on three cornerstones of activity that offer hope, reform, and health to our American community: Awareness, Education, and Advocacy.

Young adults were involved in the development of StrengthofUs from the very beginning. Two years ago, at the start of this project, NAMI surveyed over 280 young adults on their social networking habits, resource preferences, support needs and what they wanted to see included in this online community. The survey report has served as the blueprint for the development of StrengthofUs.

Additionally, NAMI worked in close consultation with a young adult Expert Advisory Group to develop StrengthofUs. These young adults were involved with the project from the very beginning to the very end. They played a critical role in helping to develop resources, determining and testing social networking components of the site and providing input on design features and other key components of the site.

StrengthofUs is a user-driven and user-generated online community. To learn more about the development of StrengthofUs, check out the About section.

As a user of the StrengthofUs Web site you have the ability to post content that may help your peers. Feel free to share any resource you have found valuable in your recovery with others on the site. You can upload files, develop pages, create groups and write blog posts. The site is user-driven and user-generated so it depends on users like you to be involved with the Web site and post new content!

If you would like to be involved in StrengthofUs in an even bigger capacity, there are unpaid internships available throughout the year for young adults to work on StrengthofUs, including developing new content, making updates, promoting the site and much more. To appy for an internship, send a letter, resume and short writing sample to NAMI Policy Team Internships. In your email, please indicate you would like to work with the Child and Adolescent Action Center on the StrengthofUs project. Thanks for your interest!