Today was the last day for the “Top 5 Ways To Be A Mental Health Advocate” series here at Mental Health Notes.

And, if you missed it, you don’t have to scroll through the site trying to find each post – I’ve rounded them all up for you right here!

Number One: Stop Yourself And Others From Promoting Mental Health Stigma. People with any kind of illness – mental illness included – are up against a lot. Refraining from using stigmatizing words and committing actions that contribute to stigma is a great way to be a mental health advocate!

Number Two: Get Involved With Mental Health Advocacy And Research Organizations. Nationwide (and worldwide!) mental health advocacy and research programs have their stuff together, and they can help you learn about mental health and advocate for mental health awareness.

Number Three: Get Involved With Mental Health Support Groups. Support groups have been around for a looooong time. It’s because they work. If you join a support group in your area, or create one where once one never existed, you can learn more about yourself and your loved ones as well as promote mental health awareness.

Number Four: Educate Yourself And Others About Mental Health. Education is the key to…well, everything. Stigma, abuse, and bigoted thoughts and behaviors often stem from ignorance, so educate yourself about mental health and then go out and educate the world!

Number Five: Get Involved With Mental Health Politics. Band together with other mental health advocates to make our government hear us and create useful mental health legislation.

If you have any more suggestions on how to become a mental health advocate, or personal stories about how you have advocated for mental health awareness, feel free to share in the comments!

Image: SXC and Karolina K

Post from: Blisstree

Round Up Of The Top 5 Ways To Be A Mental Health Advocate

The “Top 5 Ways To Be A Mental Health Advocate” series here at Mental Health Notes comes to an end today, and so far you’ve read about stopping mental health stigma, getting involved with mental health advocacy and research organizations as well as mental health support groups, and ways to educate yourself and others about mental health.

To wrap up, let’s muse on mental health politics, i.e. mental health legislation that deals with issues like postpartum depression, substance and alcohol abuse, and of course – MENTAL HEALTH PARITY!

Number Five: Become a mental health advocate when you get involved with mental health politics and make your voice heard.

You don’t have to be a political person to get involved with politics that affect mental health legislation. Actually, you don’t even have to leave your house.

Thanks to organizations like the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), and the National Mental Health Association (NMHA), you can keep informed and get involved with mental health politics right from your computer.

To get started, check out these mental health legislative action centers:

• NAMI: Take Action
• DBSA: Advocacy in Action
• NMHA: Advocacy Network

Thanks to these groups – and the Internet – it’s possible and easy for us to sign petitions and send emails to our representatives regarding mental health legislation.

It’s never been easier to make our voices heard!

Later today, I’ll round up each of the posts in the “Top 5 Ways To Be A Mental Health Advocate” series. In the meantime, tell me what kind of mental health legislation you’ve been involved with lately.

• Are you subscribed to any newsletters or RSS feeds that keep you up to date with mental health legislation? Which ones?
• Which piece of mental health legislation is currently most important to you, and why?

Image: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Get Involved With Mental Health Politics

Until this point in the “Top 5 Ways To Be A Mental Health Advocate” series here at Mental Health Notes, I’ve given you reasons to stop promoting stigma, a list of large mental health advocacy and research organizations with which you can get involved, and advice on how to get started with mental health support groups.

Today, I want to tell you how important it is to educate yourself and others about mental health. It’s more unlikely that you or anyone else will stigmatize mental illness once you understand it, after all.

Number Four: Become a mental health advocate when you educate yourself and others about mental health.

Regardless of your age, education level, or where you live in the world, there is no reason you can’t be educated and up to date with mental health.

Support groups are great places to learn more about mental health, and the websites of the larger mental health advocacy groups are goldmines for educational mental health information.

In addition to those, you can visit websites like those for the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association. (Or, if you live in another country and would prefer to read information from your country’s organizations and associations, a quick “google” of your country’s name and words like “psychiatric” and “psychological” may bring helpful results.)

You can also check out news websites like Science Daily, msnbc’s Mental Health news page, PsychCentral’s Psychology & Mental Health News, and the Mental Health page of Yahoo!News to stay on top of the latest mental health research.

And speaking of the Internet, it’s a great place to make your voice heard. You can start a blog to advocate for mental health awareness and help bust stigma. There are so many free blog sites out there (Wordpress, Blogger, LiveJournal, and the blogging features with MySpace and Facebook, to name a few), and if you have a few extra bucks to spare, you may even consider purchasing your own domain.

Tomorrow, I’ll wrap up the series with the fifth way you can become a mental health advocate (politics, anyone?), but in the meantime, tell me what kinds of experiences you’ve had with mental health education.

• How have you educated someone about mental health?
• What successes (and failures) have you had with the current mental health-related websites out there?
• Do you run a mental health blog or mental health website?

Image: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Educate Yourself And Others About Mental Health

Back in August, Angelique of Breaking the Mirror wrote about the top eight ways to become an eating disorders recovery advocate. I thought it was such an awesome idea that I decided to do it here at Mental Health Notes!

As I started writing, however, I realized just how much information can go into helping someone become a mental health advocate. So, I’ve broken the list into five separate posts for you to peruse all week in a series called “Top 5 Ways To Be A Mental Health Advocate,” starting with:

Number One: Become a mental health advocate when you stop promoting stigma and stop others from promoting stigma.

You may not be a cruel, heartless, thoughtless person, but you may use words like “nut case,” “crazy,” and “whack job” from time to time when referring to another human being. Stop! These words have negative connotations and are degrading.

When people who know a little something about mental illness hear you say those words, they may think you are cruel, heartless, and thoughtless. And, when people who don’t know much about mental illness hear you say them, they may think it’s okay to use them, too.

It’s a vicious cycle, see?

The next time you feel yourself getting ready to say these things, close your mouth and look at the situation. Is someone acting in a way that actually does make you think he has a mental illness? Maybe all he needs is someone to reach out and offer help. Or is the person merely acting in a way you don’t like or making decisions you don’t agree with? Maybe you just need to remove yourself from the situation.

You can stop others from promoting stigma, too. It is not a good idea to tackle the lady at Wal-Mart whom you overheard making fun of someone with a mental illness (though, I permit myself the occasional shooting of a dirty look – I’m an imperfect person, what can I say?), but it is a good idea to talk with your family, friends, and co-workers about such behavior. And don’t feel nervous about it or out of line. You’d defend your child if someone called him “stupid,” “ignorant,” or “ugly,” wouldn’t you? Then defend yourself, your loved ones, and others with mental health problems, too.

Keep in mind the best way to stop others from promoting stigma is to educate them about mental health and to let them know how their words and actions hurt others.

For example, if someone says, “That woman is a real nut job! She’s so bipolar I can’t stand to be around her!” you may reply with something like, “It’s not really our place to diagnose others, but if she really is struggling with bipolar-type symptoms, maybe we can help her find some resources? Or at the very least, not call her names that only make the situation worse. People don’t choose to have a mental illness, after all.”

Yeah, it sounds all textbookish and worthy of a Public Service Announcement, but calling someone out in calm and mature manner, and one that suggests you know what you’re talking about, really does work.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s information about mental health advocacy and research organizations, but in the meantime, share your thoughts here about stigma.

• Have you been guilty of promoting stigma?
• How have you tried to stop others from promoting stigma?
• What advice would you offer someone who comes face-to-face with degrading, stigma-promoting words or actions?

Image: SXC and duchesssa.

Post from: Blisstree

Stop Yourself And Others From Promoting Mental Health Stigma