Born in Alliance Ohio and graduate of Alliance High, Sue moved to the Lorain County area for over 35 years and has been a dedicated NAMI of Lorain County volunteer since 2020. She initially came to NAMI seeking support for depression diagnosis and it became much more.
“I believe in how NAMI tries to help people,” she said. “I want to help other people to get through things Like I’ve been through.”
Sue knows there are other services in the county that may offer comparable services, despite that she is the first person to volunteer to man a resource table at a county event, and she has distributed educational materials throughout the county as well.
[NAMI] has a lot of outlets and people that [they] work with,” she said.
marriage had her move to Lorain county
As a mother of two adult children, Sue has become a well-rounded person, in addition to making time to volunteer, she has worked in the food service industry for many years and currently works at Gabe’s Discount Store in Elyria. Despite her busy schedule, for the past 5 years she has volunteered at a shelter that houses horses that have been abused.
“I get a feeling of self-satisfaction,” she said. “Because I helped [a horse] that has been abused.”
There are many barriers to receiving mental health support, including a negative stigma that is far too often attached, but Filko wants people to understand getting help is important and reach out as soon as you feel you need to.
As mentioned before, volunteers are at the core of what we do, if you want to become a volunteer, please click here and complete the form, if you would like to nominate a volunteer to spotlight in a future newsletter edition, you can give as a call at 440-240-8477 or email us at office@nami-lc.org.