NAMI High Country Colorado believes that mental illnesses are biologically-based medical problems. Untreated, they can cause severe disturbances in thinking, feeling and relating, resulting in substantially diminished capacity for dealing with life’s ordinary demands. Mental illness can affect persons of any age, in any family. They are not caused by bad parenting, nor are they evidence of character weakness. We envision a future in which mental illness no longer thwarts any person’s fulfillment of his or her potential. Early and exact diagnoses and interventions, along with targeted medications and services, ensure no pervasive disability. Ultimately, we envision a day when the prevention or cure for each major mental illness is found.