Mental Illness Awareness Week is October 4th thru 10th, 2015: What can you do?

Mental Illness Awareness Week started in 1990.  What can you do to help raise awareness of mental illnesses and stomp out the stigma that still exists today?

1. Contact someone you know who suffers from a mental illness and let them know that you appreciate them and/or how they have fought the fight they fight.

2. Write a letter to the editor. An example letter can be found at: Letter to Editor

3. Write a letter to a politician about mental illness. An example can be found at  Letter to Politician

• Thanks to Governor Deval L. Patrick for declaring October 13th Mental Health Awareness day in Massachusetts.

4. Participate in the 2nd Annual World Mental Health Day Blog Party on October 10th by writing a blog about yourself or someone you know who suffers from a mental illness.  Blog Party

5. Help protect mental health programs from automatic cuts starting in January.  Protect Health Programs

6. Let someone know who writes a blog, has written an article, maintains a website, updates on FB or Twitter things about mental illnesses know that you appreciate what they are doing.  You can do this by simply “liking” or “sharing” or “retweeting” or commenting on a post or article. Some examples are:

• Kilgore News Herald: Allegiance plans events
• wibw.com: Events to Mark Mental Illness Awareness Week 
• University of Delaware: Mental Health Awareness
  
• Connecticut’s Department of Mental Health & Addiction: Mental Illness Awareness Week 2012.
• NewsOk from Oklahoma: Awareness Week Focuses on Mental Health
• Minnesota State College Southeast Technical Workshops
• ADHS Division of Behavioral Health Services Blog Happy Mental Illness Awareness Week
• Let’s Erase the Stigma website 
• SAMSHA: How many American Experienced Mental Illness in the past year?
• World Health Organization: World Mental Health Day is October 10th
• Medical News Today:Mental Illness Affects Job Prospects More Than Physical Disability
• PsychCentral: World Mental Health Day: Treatment Remains a Challenge Around the World
• HealthyPlace.com  Mental Illness Awareness Week – How You Can Help The Cause
• A list of blogs and articles can be found at: Blog Directory , Bipolar Disorder Blogs , and Top 10 Mental Health Blogs , Websites on Mental Illness . Note: You can google mental illness or a specific mental illness (ex. schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, depression, etc.) You can also search under these key words on Twitter of Facebook.
• Michigan Department of Community Health highlighted  Mental Illness Awareness Week on Twitter and Facebook
  
• Stigma of Mental Illness: Do you think it’s getting better?
• Active Minds: National Day Without Stigma

7. You also can find an idea book on NAMI’s site. Idea Book

8. Also, Karen Tyrrell has provided a list of things you can do. Celebrating Mental Health Week 

9. Walk in a walk-a-thon for Mental Health Awareness week.

10. Thank a professional who deals with the mentally ill. (mental health nurse, psychiatrist, social worker,etc.)

11. Participate in National Day without Stigma

12. Register to watch a webinar entitled “Depression and Mental Health for Faith Leaders.”

13. Share a video with your friends and family via social media or email. Savant MD  , UMTR2ME, Bell Let’s Talk , Glenn Close , Let’s Erase the Stigma on Extra , Change a Mind about Mental Illness 

14. Think outside the box. (Sky Jump with a Banner that mentions World Mental Health Day.) Plymouth University

15. Share this blog.

If you know of any other ideas, please comment or email me at bipolarbandit@hotmail.com. Thanks!