MADISON, Wis. — A Madison woman has spent decades advocating for people with mental illness, helping start a national movement. 

Nancy Abraham raised her son Dylan on her own.

“He was brilliant,” she said, with a big smile under her mask. 

But after he graduated from high school, something shifted. He had a psychotic break, and was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1974. 

“We're looking at a period of time back in 1974, when he did manifest schizophrenia, that people knew very little about […] the brain disorders of serious and persistent mental illness,” Abraham said. “It simply wasn't known.” 

Often, people were involuntarily committed to institutions. But Abraham didn’t want to do that. She was determined to find another way. 

She ended up finding other people with children battling mental illness. 

“Twelve of us met at what was then the Cuba Club on University Avenue, to talk about whether we should form an organization,” Abraham said.

The group they created is now the National Alliance on Mental Illness. For Nancy, that moment kicked off decades of advocacy for people dealing with these disorders.

“A big part of why we formed this was to educate ourselves and others about mental illness. To advocate with, for, and on behalf of people with mental illnesses,” she said. “And to support one another.” 

There are nearly one thousand chapters of NAMI nationwide. The Dane County chapter came first, and is still there today. 

Celeste Florentin works at the Dane County location, continuing Abraham’s work.

“I have a background in mental health stuff, I’ve done a lot of peer support work,” Florentin said. “It’s been really rewarding.” 

There’s also a Wisconsin chapter, and chapters covering a large portion of the state. 

Abraham has seemingly kept everything from the last 40 years. She’s got binders full of news clippings, letters, and documents from her and Dylan’s advocacy. 

“It’s a lot of work,” she laughed.

When asked if she feels proud of her decades of advocacy, she shifted away from herself quickly. Instead, she said there’s a lot more to do.

“Society has to begin to understand what people go through when it's a serious, serious disorder,” she said. “We simply have to begin to become a much more empathetic society. And we need to think about how are we helping one another? And when we're not, why aren't we?” 

NAMI helps coordinate support and care for people with mental illness, and offers support to individuals and families. To find your local chapter, click here.