In 1985, a group of Houston County citizens got tired of waiting for the state to provide the services that they believed their mentally ill relatives needed and deserved.

So they decided to do it themselves.

The result was a 7-acre haven where people with serious mental illnesses can live, get help finding a job, find friendship and generally get the kind of support that a caring family provides.

It's run by NAMI-Central Georgia, an affiliate of Georgia's chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

"We're kind of like a big family here," says executive director Kristina Simms, a retired teacher who gets a part-time salary but does a full-time job with NAMI.

She and NAMI's supporters provide a home, three meals a day and daily living assistance to 10 residents of New Hope Community Care and Training Center. Another two NAMI members live nearby, on their own, in a pair of duplex apartments. All of the residents have some form of mental illness.

Simms says NAMI-Central Georgia is the only private residential rehabilitation organization for people with mental illness in this part of the state.

Along with employment coordinator Margaret Murr, Simms and other NAMI members have cobbled together a diverse network of support from United Way and charity food services, all the way down to an attempt to start a small-scale commercial worm farm.

"Margaret and me, we're in a constant begging mode," Simms says with a laugh. They've managed to scrape up a $500,000 operating budget and employ a staff of 15.

Under a contract with the government, several NAMI members go to work daily, picking up trash at Robins Air Force Base. Others work in a supported workshop at the NAMI office, sorting parts or doing similar jobs under contract with businesses.

The center works in cooperation with Phoenix Center, the public mental health office based in Warner Robins, to provide some services that Phoenix Center can't.

It's the kind of support - a place to live, daily human contact, a chance to go to work - that can make a difference between successful living and going to jail, according to advocates for the mentally ill.

"They've made the Alliance in Warner Robins a provider, which is amazing," says Macon psychiatrist Richard Elliott. "Undoubtedly if we had more people with decent housing and a decent way of life, we'd have fewer people committing the sort of offenses that lead to incarceration."

But the center is too small to meet all the local needs. There is a waiting list for beds at New Hope.

The staff at the Phoenix Center agrees that if there were more services like NAMI, fewer people with mental illness would end up in trouble.

"It's that transition between the in-patient setting and out on the street where they could have time to become stable," says lead nurse Carla Berger.

Cathy Minton, 46, says NAMI-Central Georgia helped her make such a transition.

"I have schizo-affective disorder," she says. "It's schizophrenia with some other disorders like anxiety."

After having a major breakdown 21 years ago while teaching school, Minton spent 11 years as a recluse in her parents' home in south Georgia.

"For the first 10 years I was mentally ill, I wouldn't tell a soul because I was so embarrassed," she says. "We have been so ashamed of our illnesses, we haven't had the guts to let anybody know."

At age 36, seeking to break out of her isolation, she came to live at New Hope.

"I gained skills that I had lost 11 years before when I had my major break," she says. "I learned new cooking skills, and cleaning and maintaining a clean environment. I learned how to live with other people in a social environment."

Now, with the help of medications, her NAMI friends and support from public and private mental health services, Minton lives on her own in an apartment.

She says NAMI is a big reason for her current success.

During her time at New Hope, she says, the NAMI residents took outings together, took classes on how to keep track of their medications and had constant support.

"The staff were there 24 hours a day," she says. "That was super important."

Minton says having a mental illness can be a lonely existence.

"(People) brush you off sometimes. Like if you make an acquaintance and you're talking together well and you mention you're mentally ill. ... The next time you see them, they may brush you off and go on by."

And she agrees strongly with Simms that NAMI is like family.

"The clients that I meet, I have something in common with them. I can talk with them about mental illness. We can do things together socially."

The same goes for the caregivers there.

"If I needed help I could go to any one of these people and they would be able to help me in some degree, or tell me how to go and get help.

"Overall," Minton says, "I believe NAMI-Georgia is one of the best advocacy organizations for people with mental illness. And the affiliate in Warner Robins is probably one of the best in the state."