Your Online Presence > Strategy & Development, Delivering Services Through Your Website

Mind Bloggling

By Dr Simon Davey

Mind Bloggling is a new project, an online community of blogs, giving a voice to people with mental health issues.

The anonymous nature of the project allows people to come forward without having to identify themselves. It provides a 'safe space' for people to positively express, first hand, their experiences and concerns and in so doing, provide support and encouragement to others. Bloggers can talk about what they want, when they want and this was never more obvious than during Christmas when the online community really proved its worth.

Mind Bloggling is a project of The Media Action Group for Mental Health (MAGMH), a charity based in the West Midlands. The focus of MAGMH is to promote positive perceptions of mental health by collaborative working with the media and the general public. It has had considerable success in challenging the stigma and prejudice attached to the reporting of mental distress and mental health issues in general and in encouraging self supporting communication.

The main aims of the Mind Bloggling Project are to:

• Improve awareness of mental health issues
• Provide a 'safe space' for people to write their ‘online journal’
• Encourage collaboration and mutual support
• Develop skill levels and improve opportunities for future training.

MAGMH first discussed the idea of a blog over two years ago as a way of raising awareness of mental health issues. Giving those living with the affects of mental ill health a voice was seen as an ideal way to reduce misconceptions and to help to tackle the stigma that surrounds mental illness. It was also seen as an opportunity to build a supportive online community for people experiencing the effects of mental ill health.

In late 2006, staff and volunteers attended a Media Trust ‘New Media Made Easy’ seminar. The session proved an excellent resource of information and an inspiration to make the blogging project succesful.

“We learned a lot from reading blogs, talking to 'expert' bloggers who were kind and generous with their time and information and reading books. Neither me or Natalie Brown (out-reach worker) had any significant training in web site design or graphic design, we developed the web site through trial and error.” – Emma Brown, Mind Bloggling

The project has made an enormous difference and the bloggers have found the site a huge source of support. It has enabled the organisation to find new volunteers, changed the lives of the bloggers involved and supported who knows how many other visitors to the website. The sense of community has really begun to develop and was particularly noticeable over Christmas.

A press release (proving the value of offline media in promoting online activity) generated huge interest and increased the number of visitors to the website from hundreds to thousands. Like most online media, mindbloggling is a continuous development with staff maintaining and checking the site every day. This isn’t arduous - it’s typically a few minutes – but does require commitment.

Emma was surprised that the site took off so quickly but attributes some of this to the more ‘natural’ status of blogging compared to a couple of years ago. Blogging is now fairly common and Mind Bloggling was a clear call to action and a practical and easy way for people to get involved.

There haven’t been any major issues although the organisation was clear about setting out ‘house rules’ for bloggers. There is no censorship but there are clearly understood rules and guidelines to cover potential defamation or offence. Monitoring these takes a few minutes a day of staff time and they are looking for volunteer support for this role.

Mindbloggling fits into a wider picture at MAGMH – reducing the fear around computers and giving people confidence to use ICT to promote mental well-being. It’s offered a great opportunity for those with mental health issues to share experiences and also get more involved with new technology.

As Emma says,

“We would definitely recommend others to get involved in setting up an online community around blogs. It’s made a huge difference to the people we work with, has helped create a self-supporting community and has helped raise awareness of our other work.”

So go blog! You don’t need to worry about the technicalities and it could make a huge difference.

For further information, please contact:

Emma Brown

Mind bloggling

Media Action Group for Mental Health,

First Floor, The Goodson Building, Goodson Street,

Hanley, Stoke-On-Trent, ST1 2AT

Web: www.mindbloggling.org.uk

Email: mindbloggling@mindbloggling.org.uk

For more new media case studies download the New Media Case Studies booklet (PDF, 701Kb. Requires Adobe Reader, if you don’t have this download it from Adobe)