Mental Health Communities

The purpose of this blog post is to outline what my blog would showcase in the event I decided to make one. Below I will discuss topics I considered, the topic I chose, the purpose of the blog, the audience and information the blog would offer. Followed by the benefits the reader would get from reading and following my blog. Lastly, I discuss the possible objections and contextual issues that could arise and how I would manage them. 

I found this post difficult to write. I had a few ideas of blog topics I could pursue. I started by thinking about what I like to do outside of school. Decorative planning, interior design, learning about cars, but these topics didn’t spark any ideas of how to offer help to people. While discussing the assignment with friends the topic of mental health and my experiences with it came up. I instantly felt that I could offer people more with that topic than any of my other ideas. So, if I were to write a blog it would be on the topic of my mental health.

I was diagnosed with depression when I was in grade school. It was brought on my the unfortunate event of bullying. At that point in my life, I turned to the internet to find comfort and how to feel better. At the time I came up short. Later in my life, I was in a relationship with a guy that was controlling and emotionally abusive. Again, I turned to the internet to find help and sort out what I was feeling and experiencing. I find that many young people turn to the internet when they need help, but do not know how to ask for it. That is why I would write a blog about my experience with mental health and toxic relationships. The purpose of the blog would be to provide a safe space for young women to discuss their mental health, talk about their experiences, as well as learn about ways to help themselves. On the blog, I would find resources to share and post about my experiences. I would also include the perspective of people that helped me through it all. I would include the way my friends and family felt, what they thought and how they helped. I would also include resources for them. For the friends and family of people dealing with poor mental health. Resources like how to help, and ways to support their family and friends while they wait for them to be ready to come to them.  

The reader benefits of my blog include resources, a safe space, and the feeling of not being alone. Resources I provide would be educational, and creditable resources, like videos of explanations of mental health conditions. Ways to get help such as websites, and telephone services. I would also focus on making my blog more of a community so people from all over the world could feel like they had people that are there for them even though they aren’t physically in the same place. Amanda says in her talk, “everyone is affected by mental illness,” and her story about her friend, Victor, captures the idea that that many of us just need a friend. Or a place to reach out to others and find others that are experiencing or have experienced the same things.

To address objections and contextual issues such as not being an expert on the subject material and handling differing opinions. As well as dealing with topics that can cause readers distress as I recount my past experiences. To mediate these issues, I would start my posts with a disclaimer. This disclaimer would explain that I am not an expert on the subject matter, but I have completed a major in psychology at Western and that I do comprehensive research before posting anything. It would also include a note when the topic being discussed could cause people to become distressed. So that the readers could make the decision to continue reading or not. To deal with conflicts in the comments, I would assess the situation and make a judgement to delete comments that are not adding anything constructive to the conversation. The purpose of my blog is to create a community and encourage learning.

If I started a blog, the topic of it would be mental health. I would like to provide people with the place I wish I had when I was struggling to ask for help. To sort out what was going on in my world. The blog would also serve to help me handle my mental health and continue to deal with my own mental illness and continue to use good healthy coping strategies that I tell others about. It would keep me accountable, to practice what I am telling everyone else to do. I hope I could help people cope with their mental illness and see that things do and will get better. 

References
Stop the Stigma: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Women crying:  Image by <a href=”https://pixabay.com/users/Counselling-440107/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=1006100″>Ulrike Mai</a> from <a href=”https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=1006100″>Pixabay</a&gt;
TedTalk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLOagmZTWmM&t=401s
Rainbow among the Clouds: My own photo by Curtis MacLeod