October is Anxiety and Depression Awareness Month

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.