Click here for more information and contact. Moe Armstrong is a hero among heroes, said NAMI Executive Director Laurie Flynn. He is an amazing and inspiring individual whose tireless efforts have empowered others to push for the treatment and services that he knows from personal experience really work. His efforts and passion can be felt at every level of the mental illness movement, and his profound courage and dedication to his own health and continued recovery is an outstanding example of what people with serious mental illnesses can accomplish when provided with appropriate treatment and resources. In accepting his award, Armstrong said, As someone who has depended on the mental health system for more than 30 years, I am honored to receive this award not so much in recognition of my own recovery but as a message of hope to other persons who are in need of psychiatric services.
Recovery is possible.
I believe as I know you do too that now, more than ever, we must maintain the momentum in bringing mental health services and treatment to those who most need them. A former Eagle Scout and captain of his high school football team, Armstrong grew up in Illinois and experienced a childhood and adolescence unmarked by mental illness. At the age of 18, he joined the United States Marine Corps where he served as a medical corpsman during the Vietnam War, and participated in over 30 combat missions. It was during this period that Armstrong experienced his first psychotic break. Ultimately he was discharged from military duty and, during the next two decades, proceeded to live a virtually homeless and reclusive existence, largely unaware that he was suffering from untreated schizophrenia.