Yesterday afternoon I received an email from Beyond Blue an Australian not-for-profit that works to help people with depression and anxiety announcing that October was Anxiety and Depression Awareness month. The email was calling for people and organisations to get involved in raising awareness of anxiety and depression and help reduce the associated stigma. Now this is a major issue, just look at the impacts in the workplace costing around $4.3 billion in lost productivity!
Given I have suffered from depression on and off for several years I figured it was time to get involved and help out. So I put out a call on Twitter last night for some interest from Australian Twitter users and got several replies and Direct Messages, here are just a few:
Alegrya @mspecht add me to the list too, I’d love to get a STUB happening to raise awareness about 11 hours ago from twhirl in reply to mspecht
jyesmith @mspecht i would love to help out with beyondblue. about 11 hours ago from twhirl in reply to mspecht
limburger @mspecht count me in…but no ideas as to what yet. about 12 hours ago from m.slandr.net in reply to mspecht
stilgherrian @mspecht Count me in for doing SOMETHING for Anxiety & Depression Awareness Month. Rather important. about 13 hours ago from web in reply to mspecht
dnwallace @mspecht count me in about 13 hours ago from twhirl in reply to mspecht
jjprojects @mspecht Participating in Beyond Blue’s ADA month sounds like a great idea. about 13 hours ago
lozzz @mspecht I would. about 13 hours ago from web in reply to mspecht
Over the last year or so there have been several meme’s that have floated around Twitter, resulting in the changing of avatars to bring attention to a cause. In addition there is the concept of blog action day’s where a number of bloggers all blog about the same topic on the same day, BTW the next one is October 15 about poverty. So how about we look at combining the concepts?
It seems that October 10 is World Mental Health which gives us a focal point, so here are my ideas for October 10:
- We change our avatars on Twitter to something blue, maybe look at creating a set for people to download so it is easy.
- Write a blog post about depression or anxiety, a personal insight would make the best reading.
- Look at organising some meet ups on the day, and wear something blue.
Next step is to get this organised.
Update: If you are interested in getting involved leave me a comment or drop me an email.
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13 responses so far ↓
1 mike hawkins // Aug 29, 2008 at 8:48 am
count me in mr specht
lets give this a good shove hey
2 Owen Hodda // Aug 29, 2008 at 8:51 am
Great idea. Would definately be keen to be involved with something.
3 LucasS // Aug 29, 2008 at 9:05 am
yep count me in!!
4 Chrissie // Aug 29, 2008 at 9:15 am
Count me in for online / twitter events and anything happening in Sydney.
5 Warwick Rendell // Aug 29, 2008 at 9:15 am
Hey Michael. Being a regular fellow traveller on that particular road, count me in too.
6 Jye Smith // Aug 29, 2008 at 11:40 am
I think a combination across a number of communities to raise awareness will be an effective way.
7 Fiona // Aug 29, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Count me in
I may be able to contribute a blog post on the matter, after all I used to keep a whole blog on the theme!
8 Lou Veyret // Aug 30, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I’d love to help out too!
9 Mick Leyden // Sep 11, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Michael,
Just found this post now.
Count me in. Happy to help however I can.
mick
10 Blue Day 2008 - October 10 » Welcome to Blue Day 2008 // Sep 21, 2008 at 9:31 am
[...] I received an email from beyondblue an Australian not-for-profit that works to help people with depression and anxiety announcing that October was Anxiety and Depression Awareness (ADA) Month. The email was calling for people and organisations to get involved in raising awareness of anxiety and depression and help reduce the associated stigma. Now this is a major issue, just look at the impacts in the workplace costing around $4.3 billion in lost productivity! [...]
11 Blue Day 2008 // Oct 10, 2008 at 4:01 am
[...] over a month ago I came up with a wild idea to do something to raise the awareness of depression and anxiety for Beyond Blue’s ADA [...]
12 Nicole // Sep 14, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Hi Michael,
Came across this and love to know where you are up to with it all. Nicole
13 marissa // Oct 15, 2009 at 8:33 am
I have events sending out on FB would like to get involved in anything else too ! M
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