Casey Munck, Regional Director for NAMI Central Oregon

In this episode of Bend Don’t Break, Aaron Switzer sits down with Casey Munck, Regional Director of NAMI Central Oregon, to explore the evolving landscape of mental health support in our region. Casey shares her journey from a fast‑paced tech career to deeply meaningful grassroots work, guided by lived experience, community connection, and a passion for reducing stigma.

Aaron and Casey discuss the realities of mental health crises, the role of NAMI’s volunteer‑driven programs, and the growing network of support across Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. They talk about caregiver stress, early intervention, youth programs, and what it means to show up for someone when things feel overwhelming. Casey also reflects on her own path through crisis, recovery, and finding purpose in helping others navigate similar moments.

Tune in for a grounded, compassionate conversation about resilience, community care, and the power of telling our stories so no one has to face mental illness alone.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Ben Don't Break Podcast. We are powered by the Source, Ben's locally owned media company and weekly newspaper. This podcast is our eddy in the rushing waters of local journalism. We are glad that you are taking some of your time to listen to us chat with the people who shape our local community. Support us through our member program at Bensource.com.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Thank you to our presenting sponsor, Remax Key Properties, a family-owned, full-service real estate brokerage specializing in residential, luxury, commercial, new construction, and ranch and land properties. Their new state-of-the-art facility at 42 Greenwood Avenue is a modern collaborative space and the new home of the Ben Don't Break Podcast Recording Studio.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

I'm Aaron Sweitzer, producer of the Ben Don't Break Podcast with my co-producer here, Megan Burden, off-camera and off-screen, but only for a little while longer. We get the third camera on her. I am here today with Casey. Is it Monk?

SPEAKER_02 1:07

It is, you got it.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

All right. She is the regional director uh for NAMI, the National Association of Mental Illness in Central Oregon. She's focused on grassroots community building to expand mental health support, advocacy, and education. She oversees the affiliate, including including operations, fundraising, and administration, while maintaining a collaborative affiliate culture. Casey loves building volunteer-led programs that encourage understanding, liberation, and camaraderie through service, creativity, and storytelling. Prior to NAMI, she was a VP of marketing in the tech industry and a daily newspaper reporter, completing large-scale fundraising missions with Leukemia Lymphoma Society and Haiti Relief Efforts. Casey is a certified community health worker, end-of-life doula, NAMI peer and family support group facilitator, in our own voice, state board trainer, and current board member for the Central Oregon Council on Aging. Originally from Arkansas, which I think if we're lucky, you'll be able to hear as we discuss. She enjoys adventure time with her sheep a doodle Max. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Casey, that is a uh significant list of uh accomplishments. Uh that's uh pretty amazing. You're currently on the board of Central and Council on Aging as well as working for NAMI.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

I love seniors. I'm not quite at the age demographic, but they let me in.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

So I love being with them. So these are close to my heart.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Yeah. How did you uh Arkansas's a long way from Bend and and uh do you meet a lot of other fellow Arkansasians in in central Oregon?

SPEAKER_02 2:51

I don't, but y'all have adopted me here in Oregon, and I'm grateful for that. But um no, I didn't come straight from Arkansas though. When people hear my accent, I think they just kind of brought me in the track. Um I lived down in Miami for a long time. Okay, and then north Northern California. Yeah. Um, and then I moved here for a job to work for Navis, which is a tech company that I had been around and been for a while.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Yeah. Will you just pull that a little bit closer? Sure. The um Yeah, I don't, but I I'm originally from Atlanta, so my antenna is always up for fellow southerners. And um Arkansas is one of those states that does not pop up a lot here, I can say.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Yeah, I mean, honestly, I was just trying to get in touch with my family now, trying to get a family vacation. They tend to stay in that vicinity, but yeah, I do kind of hear your your accent is coming through. Is it around me up?

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Yeah, could be. Could be. Uh the uh so what is it that uh so how did you make the transition from tech to um moving over into the nonprofit sector?

SPEAKER_02 4:04

Well, I did not go willingly. So um, you know, tech can be kind of a volatile place. And um I was laid off and um spent probably a good year kind of like soul searching and literally applying for like over 300 jobs.

SPEAKER_03 4:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

And I was like, what is wrong here? Like I have all the credentials, like I I even couldn't get a job like as a construction worker. So I knew that something was happening, that there was a reckoning happening in my life.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

And Was this while you were in California?

SPEAKER_02 4:36

No, that was here in Bitcoin. Oh, okay. Yeah, so um tech you know, companies like they change, they get acquired. Um, so I got laid off. I did a lot of soul searching, and during that time I was going to Zumba classes at the Larkspur Seature Center, and a gal there told me about this job at NAMI, and on I my you know, mental illness and addiction runs in my family, and so yeah, it's like that sounds interesting. Um, and so I applied for a part-time job there, and two years later here I am now.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Well, maybe tell listeners, watchers a little bit about what NAMI is.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Sure. So NAMI is um NAMI. It's it could be NAMI, you know, it could go either way, but it was a grassroots organization that was started back in the 70s by two moms that had adult schizophrenic sons, and they were really frustrated about the lack of resources that were available. And at the time, um, a lot of folks were blaming parents that had kids, adult kids with mental illness, and they were just trying to band together to figure out what resources are available, how can we help each other, and that concept really caught on across the nation. And so um now there's over 600 NAMI's across the United States. There's a NAMI national organization, state chapters. Um, it really maintains that grassroots movement, so it's primarily volunteer-led programs, right? Um it's all about advocating um for people that have mental illness or have mental health challenges by using your own lived experience to share uh stories.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Right. And how many people do you currently how many people currently are in the local affiliate for NAMI?

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Vernami, we have about 4,000 people in the database that are like friends of NAMI, I guess. Right, sure. Across the shoots, Jefferson and Kirk Counties, and that has grown. Um when I started here we had about a thousand people, so the network of like you know, people that are involved in programs are supporting us, um, have gotten pretty big, you know, we've had tremendous growth.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

That's an enormous number. That's f far larger than I would have guessed. Four thousand.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

And so as far as like active volunteers, and so volunteers are the heart of like the people leading NAMI support groups and teaching classes and giving presentations are really the lifeblood of the organization. We have about 200 of those folks across into Oregon leading programs.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

So if someone's uh family member is experiencing a crisis, and um what would how does it look for someone to get in touch with you and and what does it look like for support and what they would find if they were to get involved?

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Sure, yeah, and we we definitely take a lot of calls to our main phone number into our inbox. So we get a lot of referrals from you know people at the Deschutes County Behavioral Health Center, therapy offices, just other, you know, organizations, and they'll reach out and a lot of times they're struggling about what to do next. And so sometimes it's just education to those folks about explaining like what a mental health crisis looks like, and then offering support groups or classes that they can go to to educate themselves and and realize that they're not alone. Um, a lot of times this is a topic that isn't always you know shared around you know the dinner table. And so uh we want to be uh lighthouse to folks to say like it's not something that you have to be embarrassed about. There's a way to get through this um and to get through it together.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Yeah. I mean, a lot of times the onset of mental illness can be pretty sudden, and I would think that people who never thought they would need these kind of services find themselves thrust into a situation where they they need maybe they've never even sp looked or talked or done any research or even Googled, you know, mental illness, and this might be their first experience with it.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

Definitely. I mean, it's something that can hit in adulthood out of the blue, like it could be due to an environmental um trigger or a catastrophic event. I know myself, after I got laid off, I had a mental health crisis. Um, and even my own friends and family were confused and lost about like what to do. Yeah. Um, and so we try to be a source of like strength for folks to say, like, hey, I know this could be really confusing. But brains, you know, they can get sick just like other parts, body parts, but they can get better. Um, and so I think the brain can be a really scary place, especially for some, you know, if you're seeing someone that, you know, up to 40 years from now, they're a normal and then suddenly they're acting really unusual, that can be scary.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

So do you deal with um kids? Well, how what is the age range for the kind of services you provide? What if in the event that someone's child is going through a crisis?

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Sure. So we offer a NAMI basics class that for that's for parents of kids with mental health challenges. I think it's also important that, you know, in addition to helping people that have mental illness, we also want to promote mental wellness and how to not get to the crisis point and and you know, work through things um before it gets that bad. So we offer those classes for parents of kids um, you know, basically five to twenty two. That's what that basics class is for. But we've also started working with youth. So we have like um suicide prevention classes that we do in the schools. Okay. And we've just started like opening up a high school internship. So we're trying to expand to more programs and reach kids at an age where we can make an impact um early that they can talk about this stuff and not have to be you know embarrassed about how they're feeling.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

How many people besides yourself are in the NAMI program? Like, how large is your organization?

SPEAKER_02 10:51

It's still pretty scrappy. So we just uh hired our second full-time employees. So we have two full-time employees, and the rest um are volunteers. So we have a working board um of about eight folks, and those are people that are like teaching classes, in groups, giving presentations in the school. Um, but all of our volunteers, they're they're our colleagues as well. So and we're just so grateful for them because they're doing this out of the goodness of their heart. Like, and it I think it, you know, speaking from experience, it helps your own mental health recovery when you're in a good place and you can use what has happened to you to help others. Um, but we're still pretty scrappy here. So it's good to teach.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

I would say two full-time qualifies is scrappy, and board members teaching classes is doubly scrappy. Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

We love it though. Yeah, um, and we have like a state organization and other NAMI affiliate. Yeah. Like if something is going on, they're there to support and provide, you know, at the national level, the training materials and stuff like that. But on the ground here, um, it's me and another guy named Devin, and she's our community and programs manager. Um we've also had a part-time community organizer in Jefferson County. Okay. I'm named Vicky, and um she's been with us for about a year and done some great work there.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Yeah, I was curious. So in Central Oregon, are there other NAMI affiliates outside of Bend where you are?

SPEAKER_02 12:20

Well, we represent all of Central Oregon. So we are the affiliate for Jefferson, Kirk County and the Warm Springs area. So um over the last year, we put uh community organizers in Kirk County and Jefferson County to really try to build up those programs, and we did some great stuff. Like we got family support group, facilitator training in Madras, we've got groups that are happening now in Pineville. We started up stuff in La Pon. So we really wanted to double down and for those communities to know that we see a world outside of him, we love Bend, but we also see all out there and want to bring programs that are close to your backyard.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

How much work do you do with Deschutes County? I mean, we've I know their program has been growing and they're getting more they've recently gotten some more legislative support. Do you work closely with the county on on these mental health? Do they are you incorporated or do they call you how to do that?

SPEAKER_02 13:20

Yes, we call each other frequently. Um we've even had people from the Stabilization Center and the Crisis Intervention Team come and speak to family members at family support groups and explain like what that would look like if you had to bring your family member there, or what would happen if you felt like you needed to call the crisis intervention team. Um and so I feel like we have a really great relationship, like we trade referrals. That's good community partnerships, I think. And we uh you know, we've given presentations to clients that they have at the behavioral clinic there. Um so we love working with the county. We help out with crisis intervention training that the law enforcement teams have. We get up and like share our stories and you know, participate in that too. So Deschuse County's been good to us and we appreciate their partnership.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Are you usually can you? I mean, I I suppose it happens, but how frequently does it happen that you can be the first point of contact that uh a family might have in a crisis as opposed to somebody who's I I I mean I would expect that from the county, yeah, but for yourself, are you often the first point?

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Yes, yes. Um, and you know, I'm not a trained therapist. I am someone that has had, like I've been in the hospital myself for mental health stuff, and it runs in my family. But a lot of times, yeah, I'm getting phone calls from people um who are experiencing crisis and they just know the name NAMI, like they've been told, call NAMI if something happens. So I just do my best to have like two feet on the floor, having a good awareness of all the resources that are here, and try to like calmly calmly walk them through what next steps will look like for them.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

When you were transitioning from tech and your tech career to to where you are today, what what's been the biggest? I mean, that is an incredible transformation. I mean, the kind of stories you're telling me about being on the end of a call when someone's going through a crisis as opposed to being in the tech world where I gotta believe any kind of crisis is pretty arm's length. Uh what has that been like for you?

SPEAKER_02 15:31

Honestly, when it happened, I was like, my I felt like my world collapsed because I, you know, I don't have kids and cur my career was like my identity. So I was like, what is going on here? But now I feel like it's such a blessing. Like it that door closed and it opened up this whole world where all this skill and passion that I have can be put to help others. So there was definitely, I guess, a dark night of the soul reckoning that happened, but I was taken care of through it all, you know. And um, yeah, kind of a little bit of an ego death had to happen, I guess. But I'm grateful for it. Like I'm glad I got off that elevator. No, no shade to my tech friends, but this is meaningful work that I'm proud of. And it's cool to see other people like have special moments, yeah. You know, when they get up and like share their stories, or you can tell someone feels good about being of service or feel supported. Like that's the good stuff that I really like.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Well, I remember, I mean, certainly during the pandemic, and um, you know, a lot of people in the tech field are in those crazy um work environments, and we saw a lot of emigrees from San Francisco area coming up to bend who are like, I'm starting my life over here, but you're actually living that transition. I mean, so many of them got here and turned around and hightailed it back as soon as they could take off their mask.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

Yeah, well, it's hard, honestly, when you're working in tech, like you're just not getting out of the house a lot. You know, you're sitting there working at your laptop, like having Zoom meeting after Zoom meeting. And so, you know, for me, this job actually made me a part of the community. And so before I was always feeling like not exactly quite fitting in. But um, I'd say for anybody in tech who's in that position, get out, volunteer, get to know your neighbors, like get outside of the house. I know it can be a little scary at first because culturally that is what's happening a lot in the work environment. And so um, yeah, I'd say get out and try to get to know your community and get to know your neighbors, and you'll find there's a lot of love there. Um, it's and it's worth it to make that transition.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Were you doing a lot were were you when you were working, were you doing work from home? Were you?

SPEAKER_02 17:53

Oh yes, I was. The last gig um was the software company was based out of Portland, so I would go up to Portland for a week um every month. But yeah, I was working from home a lot.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Do you find in your work at Nami that you I mean, how many people do you see suffering or coming to you or in those environments who need to hear about your work experience or you're helping them through s situations like that? Because it can be isolating.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

It can, it can. And even though there's a lot of talk about mental health in the tech industry, a lot of it can feel like a platitude when you get back to your computer and you've got like 300 emails and deadlines and stuff. So yeah, we're hearing a lot of folks come through who have been through like toxic work environments and are looking for a way to work through that. And a lot of times it is about like charting your own destiny, right? Like learning how to, we're teaching folks how to set their own boundaries, how to fill their own cup, how to do that kind of you know, basic self-care that um often gets forgotten.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Yeah. In in the environment you're in where people are coming for these supports, you're seeing a wide spectrum of um mental health uh crises. Some people who are just having a slight breakdown, some people who you can look at and they're gonna need long-term care, long-term support. How do you and your role know how to feed them into these different resources? Is that something that you're just learning as you go?

SPEAKER_02 19:30

Well, I think that one thing that they teach you in NAMI programs is that you, you know, as a facilitator, as a teacher, don't feel like you have to fix everybody's problem. And so um something I have observed in like teaching classes and leading groups is that um everyone can kind of come to the table and there can be like a group wisdom thing that happens about um sometimes just holding space and listening to folks, um and letting other people maybe share their experience, but hey, this worked for me, you know. Um I don't know if it'll work for you, but um yeah, it can be challenging sometimes. Um, but I that has been um the best advice I try to give myself every day is just um you're not a therapist, don't try to diagnose the problem.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

But you are a therapist, you're not certified, but in those moments when those people are in crisis, I'm sure you're the you're the first door they're coming through. They, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

I guess I just use like my reporter hat. Like I have absorbed a lot of information and I have heard like what resonated and what didn't. Yeah. And a lot of times it's just like holding space and then not giving too much information at once. That's something that I've observed is like gifts a little bit at a time, because you know, someone is already coming in in a very anxious state whenever they're dealing with a crisis themselves or a loved one. So I try to just like parse out what is the most like important thing that can help this person right now. Um, and then a lot of times, hey, why don't you come to our support group? Like, let's get you into a space where maybe others can share their experiences with you.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

In your own situation when you were going through crisis, did you reach out for help? Was it something that you took advantage of, or did you just hoe your own row?

SPEAKER_02 21:29

I didn't know exactly what was going on in my brain at the time. And I had been through like therapy and you know, had you know, treatment and stuff in the past. I think I tried to reach out to my friends and family and explain what was going on, but I don't think I exactly had the words to articulate what was happening, and I didn't know about a lot of the resources. Like I don't think at the time I knew about the stabilization center or I knew about support groups. I just knew I had like a telehealth thing. Yeah. Um, and that I had had previous incidents in the past. So um that's what I think motivates me now today is that I think about hey, if I would have known about Nami, maybe I wouldn't have ended up in St. Charles, whatever. Um, but you know, it all got me here, so I'm grateful that I had that experience. Yes. Um, that so I can help someone else.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Yeah, in in that situation, which I think is probably the majority of the of what where people find themselves. How did you get out? How did you find your way through?

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Well, at that time, um it happened. I had a mental health crisis in front of my home, and um two police officers came and took me to the hospital, gave me a shot, and I woke up the next morning, and I after that, you know, went to see my doctor, like, you know, sought therapy and um just started taking better care of myself. Yeah, acknowledging you've been through a lot. And um, that was those were the first steps that I took. Um and just unpacking it gently over the next year.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Yeah. What do you say to folks who maybe are listening or you know, and what what is the first step that they should take? Do they call NAMI? Would they call the health, do they call the county health? I mean, what is the m optimal path that someone might take if they suspect they're they're approaching a crisis?

SPEAKER_02 23:31

Yeah, I think you know, definitely reach if they live in Deschutes County, going to the Deschutes County Stabilization Center is a great place to go. They have trained therapists, they're up in 24-7. Um, if they're, you know, not wanting to get outside of their home, they can call 988. That's a great number. Um, they can call Nami Centurion and we're happy to talk with them and um give them resources for where to go to a support group. Um but I'd say like the probably the best thing would be to go to the stabilization center where they can kind of sit and relax and talk to somebody about what exactly is going on and if necessary, you know, help them get some more professional help.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Yeah. For your organization, what is it that you need from the community? I mean, what would make NAMI a better organization in Central Oregon?

SPEAKER_02 24:22

Sure. Well, we're always looking for more volunteers who have had lived experience themselves to become support group facilitators or teachers. Or um, I'd say that is the thing like the NAMI world is an ecosystem. And so I like to say if you sign up, it's almost like serving in the Peace Corps for a year. Yeah. So we want to continuously be looking for new people that are, you know, in a good place that want to give back, and you don't have to have had a mental health crisis to be involved in the uh NAMI community. If you struggle with anxiety or depression or whatever, like that that works too.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Yeah. Uh I met you through at the Centurion Gives uh after party where we were celebrating the uh end of the year-end campaigns for all those participating. And that's another place that that people can reach out and find out more about your organization through that website as well. And I know you're a one-man team probably fundraising out there for the organization as well.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

Well, we definitely um you know appreciate the local support. We are having like our annual mental health awareness walk, which is our big fundraising event um on May 17th. Okay. And Pioneer Park. Um, if folks want to just show up and walk in support of mental health as an individual or as a team, that's fantastic. If there's any businesses that want to be a sponsor for the walk, that's a great way to support the work that we're doing in the community and also get your name out to the community that like mental health matters to you and you want to back the work that Nami does.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

That's great. Well, Casey, we're at the end of our time for this uh brief podcast. Uh anything we didn't mention that you want people to know about or ways that they can reach you, how would they how would they get in touch?

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Sure, they can go to NAMIcentralorgan.org or call us at 541-316-0167.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Well, Casey, thanks for coming in and rapping with us today. Thanks for having me. This has been the Ben Don't Break Podcast. If you uh like what you hear, then uh go to Ben.com, Ben Source.com and punch the uh become a member button and support more interviews like the one we're doing with Casey. Thank you for listening. You've been listening to the Ben Don't Break podcast, powered by the Source Weekly. To read, hear, and see more of what we do, go to Bensource.com.