On Wednesday night, two members of the National Alliance on Mental Illness shared their stories at the Oak Bluffs Library as part of a program called In Our Own Voice. The program aims to break through some of the stigma that surrounds mental illness.

Fear, anger, loneliness and confusion are all emotions often associated with people with mental illness. But those emotions can run just as strongly in loved ones and caregivers.

An educational course beginning next week aims to give family members the tools and support to cope with the challenges of caring for those with mental illness. The free course, called Family-to-Family, is sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Cape Cod and will be held in Vineyard Haven.

The trappings of a resort community may be the Vineyard's bread and butter, but the flipside - the seasonality, the economic pressures, a housing market far out of reach of most working people and even the private beaches - may be the ingredients underlying rates of depression, substance abuse and suicide that are higher than the state and even national averages.