The organization that we know today as NAMI Santa Clara County is the result of the efforts of a few courageous parent leaders, many families and individuals, as well as friends and professionals who worked hard in the 1970s and 1980s to give birth to an organization that would completely change the way we view mental illness. During that time families dreamed of the day when a child with schizophrenia would be treated no differently than a child with any other chronic illness like leukemia or mental retardation. They hoped for a time when mental illness could be discussed openly and their ill children and family members could be properly cared for in their own communities. Accomplishing these simple goals would not be easy.