National Council Uses Second Life For Mental Health Advocacy
March 28, 2008 by Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Are any of you familiar with Second Life? I know, I know, I can be really behind sometimes – I just discovered it a few months ago. I’m not a member yet, so to find out more about Second Life you should check out the Web site’s What is Second Life? and FAQs sections; however, simply put, “Second Life is a 3D digital world imagined and created by its Residents.”
So, why am I talking about Second Life on a mental health blog? The answer to that is interesting indeed.
A few days ago I received an email from an employee with The National Council letting me know about – well, actually, she explains it better than I can:
The National Council is the first organization of its kind in the United States to offer mental health and addictions awareness and support virtually using the technology of Second Life. The National Council created an office on an island in Second Life called Nonprofit Commons and uses the space to build community among those with mental illness and addiction disorders and those who care for them. Second Lifers get the benefit of in-person education and engagement that helps them better manage the challenges they face, knowing they are not alone. They are connected to resources for employment, comprehensive care, and grassroots advocacy to lobby for increased access to effective mental healthcare.
How cool is that?!
Aside from visiting The National Council’s Web site, you can also visit On Our Minds to learn more about The National Council and their virtual office at Second Life. And, if you’re already a Second Lifer, you can visit the virtual office now.
Sure, online mental health support groups and other resources are readily available; however, I think creating a virtual mental health-related office in an extremely popular virtual world is just, well, awesome. The National Council has just taken a giant leap toward closing the gap between mental health resources and folks who, for whatever reason, don’t have access.
The Internet can be amazing, no? So can passionate and caring mental health advocates.
A friend of mine just emailed me one of your articles from a while back. I read that one a few more. Really enjoy your blog. Thanks.
Jason Whitmen
As the organization I work for (Preferred Family Healthcare) is a member of the National Council, I was delighted to see their presence in Second Life particularly as it is affiliated with the Non-Profit Commons, a group I have been working with for the past year. I think virtual worlds have great potential for sharing information (and hope and support) with millions, as well as other possibilities. PFH for example is exploring the value of this technology to reach housebound individuals, and those who live in rural and frontier areas.
We are not a national or international consortium, but PFH is certainly an organization that is offering “mental health and addictions awareness and support virtually using the technology of Second Life” and has been doing so since the spring of 2007. We haven’t claimed to be the “first” at anything (it’s a big virtual world in there) but we certainly have made a splash!
We hope that more agencies and consortia like the National Council will use this technology to increase our visibility and reach the heretofor unreachable.
Good going NC!
Jason: Thank you very much – and thank your friend for me!
Dick: That’s great! If you want to email me a write up or anything like that explains in depth what PFH is doing with Second Life (or any kind of information related to mental health, really!) feel free to do so and I’ll get it up here at MHN!