Being Vulnerable

A while back, I got really into TED talks and stumbled across this one by Brene Brown. Her talk deals with vulnerability and I think what makes her message really stick with you is that she is in fact being vulnerable herself throughout the talk. She opens up about her struggles with coming to some of these conclusions. It's a lengthy video but worth every second.

Obviously the video focuses mostly on embracing vulnerability and that it's okay to not be okay. But she also strongly pushes the idea of embracing happiness and truly believing that you deserve the good times. Good or bad, embracing those feelings is healthy. 

In the News

I was looking for some news stories pertaining to mental health, specifically here in Kansas, and came across this one about needing more funding for help and resources in schools. Personally I think the earlier we can educate and provide resources for someone, the better. Especially when kids get to the middle school/high school age, it can help them better understand what they might be going through.

***Trigger warning for this news article though. It does briefly talk about a young girl's battle with her own mental health. I always want to stress that the most important thing is to take care of yourself. So if that isn't something that you think you could handle reading, please don't.***

To Write Love On Her Arms

Since I may reference TWLOHA in the future, I wanted to provide a little more information about it. Especially the UChapters program and Washburn University's involvement.

Twloha's founder, Jamie Tworkowski, put this whole thing in motion with a single story posted on myspace (originally). You can now find it here on twloha's website. After he posted that story about his friend Renee, he received many responses of people in similar situations or people who knew someone that needed help. And after a while, twloha became a non-profit organization. This started in 2006 and this provides an excellent look at just how much they have accomplished since then. One major acheivement was in 2011 when they were awarded $1 million from Chase at the American Giving Awards. 

Twloha's mission statement:

To Write Love On Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide. Twloha exists to encourage, inform, inspire, and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

Twloha Links:

Official Website (my description here is very brief and summarized so I suggest going here to get a more in depth look at what the organization is about)

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

UChapters:

The UChapters program is a network of student organizations on college and university campuses that exists to embody the mission and vision of To Write Love on Her Arms. Through organized meetings and events, each chapter serves as a voice of inspiration and support for students and their surrounding communities.

Twloha-Wu is in it's fourth year as a student organization and we are continuously working on reaching out to as many people as possible. We cover a different mental health topic each month. Meetings vary from discussion based to speakers to community building activities to occasional potlucks. If you are interested, we meet Thursdays at 5 p.m. in the LLC Blair Room.

This is a photo of some members of twloha-wu with founder, Jamie Tworkowski this past summer at the UChapters conference. (Photo by: Molly Walter)

Twloha-Wu links

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Stigmas and Stereotypes

Firstly, I want to point out that the words stigma and stereotype don't exactly have the same definition. A stereotype is a simplified, overgeneralized opinion formed about a person, group of people, or idea. It can be positive or negative and is generally widely accepted by society. A stigma is when someone views a person or idea in a negative way because of a certain characteristic(s). Essentially, it is a negative stereotype.

Mental illnesses have become such a taboo topic in today's society because of the stigmas associated with them. And it is often one of the biggest reasons people don't seek the help they need. Recipients of a mental illness diagnosis can often be called crazy, lose friends (or family), be seen as unstable, etc. and dealing with that can be almost as hard as the mental health issue itself. It can influence the way the person sees themselves. They start to feel that they are the illness rather than a person. It can dehumanize them.

So what do you do if you're being stigmatized by the people around you?

1. The number one thing is to still get the treatment you need. This is incredibly important. Treatment can help you handle the stresses. It can show you that someone cares and you aren't alone. 
2. Which brings me to the point of having a support group or community. Whether that's your friends or family, or others going through the same thing. It's important not to isolate yourself and to know that you're not alone.
3. Don't let your mental health or the stigmas associated with it define who you are. You are so many other things than just depression or just anxiety or just ADHD or just addiction. The list can go on and on.

Now, how do we begin to decrease the stigma?

1. Most importantly, become educated. The more you know, the easier it is to talk about.
2. Don't be afraid to start a conversation. The more mental health is talked about, the less taboo and stigmatized it becomes. And people begin to feel more okay about openly discussing it.
3. Language. Start reflecting on some of the language you use. For example, if someone is sad, don't immediately call them depressed. Or if someone is having mood swings, don't use the terms bipolar or crazy. This can tie into number one as well.

The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) for mental disorders is constantly being updated but is typically only used by licensed psychologists or researchers. A link to a more publicly available list is below:

http://psychcentral.com/disorders/

This provides some information about various mental health disorders in order to become better educated.

Although this focuses on the stigmas around mental health, there are many other issues that can be applied. LGBTQIA individuals, the genders in general, social class, ethnicity, etc. I think it's important to recognize the stigmas and reflect on how we can begin to decrease them.

First Things First

Hi there! Rachel here and welcome to my blog! I'm a senior at Washburn University and just decided to change my major from forensic chemistry to mass media. It's quite the 180 but I'm much happier with the new choice and look forward to diving right in. I've lived in Topeka since I've been in college but I grew up a few hours south of here in Wichita. Now, more importantly, what will this blog be about?

I will be focusing on mental health awareness. Everything from decreasing the stigma to how to be a friend/loved one of someone who struggles to helpful resources. I am involved with the UChapters program of To Write Love On Her Arms here at Washburn and will probably be referencing them a lot throughout this blogging experience. This is something I have always been very passionate about and hits home on many levels. Mostly, I wanted to make this blog to continue to make mental health something that's less taboo in our society and let people know that it's completely okay to talk about. I think the more people know the less scared they feel to start the conversation.

To end this little introduction, I want to leave you with a saying that TWLOHA uses quite frequently:

"People need other people"