by Cate Shirey
Navigating your mental health in a world that is constantly online is difficult. As someone who has been affected by mental illness through family members and my own mental illnesses for years, this fact constantly pushes itself to the forefront of my mind.
Throughout my years studying at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL, I would find myself somehow relating most all of my papers, projects, and studies towards mental health and mental health care. Mental health has always been important to me, but now with the creation of Messages for the Mind I can begin to share my passion with you. In one of my final classes at UA, we were tasked with creating a research project on a topic of our choosing, complete with data collection and a final research paper outlining what we had studied and what results we collected. Naturally, I chose to study mental health specifically, how conversations about mental health impact the willingness of college students to seek diagnosis and/or treatment. I wanted to know if social media advocacy had an impact on the stigma surrounding mental health, and if the stigma had an impact on college students. After a few surveys and interviews with friends and family, I was amazed at how much the stigma surrounding mental health still impacted the decision to seek diagnosis and treatment. It was then that I knew I wanted to do something about it, so was born the idea for a mental health advocacy organization.
I created Messages for the Mind to provide a safe space for those who are affected by mental illness, either directly or indirectly, to share their stories and read stories from others. I wanted to create a place where people can go to assure themselves that they are not alone, and that they are safe.
Welcome to Messages for the Mind.