Years ago, those who had a mental illness used to have to suffer alone and in silence. Anyone who openly admitted to having mental health issues was ridiculed and shamed. Luckily, in today's world, with one in four people affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives, the topic of mental health is more openly discussed and acknowledged. Social media has provided an amazing platform for those who suffer from mental health issues to seek help. There are numerous inspirational accounts that enable people to connect with others like themselves, share their stories, create awareness, find motivation, or simply read a daily pick-me-up.
Nature Is The Best Medicine
While social media can be an amazing place for people to connect and work through their mental health issues, there may be no better cure than stepping outside into nature. That is the driving force behind the Facebook page "Outdoor Mindset." "Outdoor Mindset unites and empowers people affected by neurological challenges through a common passion for the outdoors." It was formed in 2009 by 13 friends who joined together to "make something great" from a friend's diagnosis of a brain tumor. They all shared a passion for nature and the outdoors, and wanted to provide a community for people with similar passions who suffer from neurological disorders.
Sharing Your Struggles
The Instagram page Let’s Talk About Mental Health provides a forum for people who suffer from mental health issues to share their stories. Designer Jessica Walsh was inspired to create the page after working on a project called "12 Kinds of Kindness" which she created in order to figure out ways to be kinder. During that project, her past struggles with anorexia, depression, and self-harm due to her own struggles with mental health came to the forefront. Though she's since recovered, she had never spoken openly about them. She uses the page to tell her own story and invites others to do the same.
A Photograph Is Worth A Thousand Words
The nonprofit organization Broken Light Collective, @brokenlightco on Instagram, uses the medium of photography to empower those affected by mental illness. Sometimes it is easier to express what one is experiencing through an artform like photography rather than through words. Their goal is "to create safe and accepting environments where photographers of all levels who are affected by mental health challenges can display their work, as well as inspire one another to keep going and keep creating, despite the dark or scary places in which they may find themselves." Anyone is invited to artistically contribute.
Sketching Experiences
Illustrator Marissa Betley decided to a create a 100-day project to raise awareness for mental health issues. Doing so inspired her to launch the IG account Project 1 in 4. Now Marissa creates "compelling illustrations that bring to light real-life stories about mental health." She posts sketches based on the experiences, struggles, and coping strategies of people she has interviewed, who've been diagnosed with such disorders as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and PTSD. Her mission is to erase the stigma surrounding mental health, promote wellness, and bring hope to those struggling with mental health issues.
Awakening The Spirit
Omega, also known as the Omega Institute, is a nonprofit organization located in the Hudson Valley in New York, with the mission of awakening "the best in the human spirit and cultivating the extraordinary potential that exists in us all." It has shifted part of its focus to creating an online global community through its Facebook page. It posts articles that discuss integrating modern medicine and natural healing, as well as programs that connect science, spirituality, and creativity. It hosts numerous online workshops, both live and on-demand, along with real-life workshops that take place at various places in New York and Costa Rica.
You Are Not Alone
The Buddy Project™ is a non-profit movement that "aims to prevent suicide and self-harm by pairing people as buddies and raising awareness for mental health." It focuses on children, teens, and young adults, providing a community in which they can feel safe and respected. It helps young people deal with the effects of online bullying and negativity on social media. Those who sign up get paired with a "buddy" who is there to help them deal with whatever issues they may be going through. As of this year, over201,000 members have signed up to be paired with a buddy.
Life Is A Stage
Jennifer Marshall, a wife and mother of two, suffers from bipolar disorder. Six years after her diagnosis, she started writing a blog called "Bipolar Mom," and soon found a community online of others who had similar life experiences. She then decided to start a theater show to give others a stage "on which to share their story of living a successful life despite mental illness." She, along with Anne Marie Ames, launched This Is My Brave in 2014, and as of this year, nearly 500 people have shared their stories on various This Is My Brave stages across the country. They're also showcased on their IG and Twitter pages.
Erasing the Stigmas
No Stigmas is "a global non-profit movement utilizing Peer-2-Peer connections to promote mental wellness and prevent suicide." The organization recruits certain individuals, called "Stigma Erasers," who have suffered from mental illness and have their own stories about hope and recovery. The Stigma Erasers are educated on how to become advocates for spreading understanding and awareness. They then share their stories in a public forum, to "promote understanding and inspire those who are struggling to find their own path of healing." Along with their main website, they currently have a growing IG, Twitter and Facebook community.
More Stigma Breakers
Break Yo Stigma calls itself an "anti-stigma organization." Their goal is to eliminate the negative stigmas associated with the topic of mental health. The page posts daily inspirational messages and quotes, and provides a forum for others to share their thoughts and experiences regarding their own mental health issues, whether it be in posts, photos or even memes. It originated as simply a team name in 2012 for San Francisco NAMIWalks, but soon evolved turned into a social media campaign that is for "educating and sharing stories about our strengths, not weaknesses."
Everyday Accomplishments
Hannah Daisy of @makedaisychainsis an occupational therapist, artist, and mental health activist. She suffers from mental health disorders and endometriosis, and as she scoured the net for inspiration regarding self-care, she discovered that most topics on the subjects depicted it as a luxury, like pampering oneself through going to a spa or getting a pedicure, instead of discussing the more mundane (yet necessary) tasks. She decided to launch an Instagram page and post her creative illustrations that showcase the small achievements that people with mental health issues and chronic illnesses accomplish, under the hashtag #boringselfcare.
Central Hub For All Things Mental Health
With over 250 support groups and thousands of indexed resources, Psych Central is the Internet's leading independent mental health publisher. It covers a vast variety of disorders and offers a free link to ask therapists questions, as well as daily news and research updates, blogs by leading experts in the field and links to clinical trials. The group screens over 500,000 people each month for mental health concerns. Their Facebook is slowly gaining as much traction as their main website. They have also launched a weekly podcast called "The Psych Central Show" which offers "candid, interesting, in-depth looks into all things mental health and psychology."
Sad Girls
Growing up in a very traditional family in the Caribbean, mental issues were just something never discussed in filmmaker Elyse Fox's household. She did notice that she wasn't as happy as most other people seemed to be, but didn't realize that she suffered from depression until her adult years. She was diagnosed with clinical depression in 2016, and soon after founded The Sad Girls Club, a group comprised of a network of women seeking support for their mental-health issues. Through the club, she would livestream meetings she hosted with Shira Burstein, a licensed clinical social worker. She now uses her personal IG page to spread her message.
Simple Words, Big Impact
The mission of the Facebook page Mental Health Awareness and Positive Mental Health is "to promote mental health awareness and positive attitudes towards mental health. It seeks to encourage social inclusion for individuals with mental illness, and promote positive messages regarding mental health to the community." The thought process behind it is that even the simplest words can have a major impact on someone else's life. The page posts inspirational photos, quotes, and articles to help spread awareness and inspire people to keep fighting through their struggles. Followers then connect further through the comments sections of each post.
Finding Humor
Beth Evans' Instagram page is a collection of her black and white playful sketches and comics that deal with her personal experiences with the struggles of living with mental health issues, and she has managed to acquire 217,000 followers. She has even recently put her collection together in a book called I Really Didn't Think This Through, which will be released this May. Evans uses humor to depict everyday situations that deal with love, social anxieties, depression, and work. She herself struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression, and offers friendly advice about how to take care of yourself, seek help and embrace what makes you happy.
Together We Are Strong
NewLifeOutlook is a website, and now a Facebook page, that "aims to empower people living with chronic mental and physical health conditions, encouraging them to embrace a positive outlook despite unfortunate circumstances." All of the articles are written by authors who have personal experience dealing with depression, so that they can offer readers practical and achievable advice on how to deal with their own issues. It also has created a community of people who can lean on each other through their times of struggle. On the website, there is a support forum where people can post questions and ask for specific advice.
You Are Not Alone
Anxiety is often treated as something a person should just "get over." The Facebook page Anxiety & I acknowledges the very real struggle many people who suffer from anxiety endure, and lets them know that they are not alone. The person who created the page is by no means an "expert," but rather a real person who suffers from the disease. The goal was to provide a place where others who suffer from anxiety can find support and understanding, and "a little humor and positivity to help you survive the day." People use the timeline to share their stories, seek support and connect to others.
Cutesy Inspiration
Artist Kate Allan's social media pages are perfect for those with an affinity for all thing cute and cuddly. On her account, all titled "The Latest Kate", she writes and draws "about painful things but makes it okay with bright colors and sparkles." Her work usually consists of a colorful illustration of an adorable creature, usually happy, coupled with an inspirational message such as "When you can't face your whole life, just face today. You can survive today" and "Progress is still progress, no matter how small." She also sells prints, mugs, pillows and more with her artwork and messages.
Courage Is Contagious
As a research professor at the University of Houston, Brené Brown has spent 16 years studying "courage, vulnerability, empathy, and shame." She holds the Chair at the Huffington Foundation, which gives grants primarily for education as well as for the arts and human services. She is one of the top five most viewed TED talks in the world, with over 30 million views, written four books, and is the founder of Brave Leaders Inc., an organization that brings evidence-based courage building programs to teams, leaders, and organizations. Social media has become another platform for her to share her knowledge.
An Anxious Community
The Instagram page Anxiety Support offers a safe community to talk about the real experiences "self-love, and navigating through life with a mental illness." The administrator struggles with acute anxiety and often posts unfiltered photos and thoughts of herself while dealing with her illness. There are memes, photos, quotes, all perfectly illustrating what it is like to deal with the often crippling disorder. The site takes open submissions, both credited and anonymous. The site's goal is to not only help those dealing with anxiety, but also to help those who don't and are looking to understand more about it.
Surfing For A Piece Of Mind
One Wave Is All It Takes, an Australia-based nonprofit community, is using the beach and ocean as a means of dealing with mental health issues. Their motto is "saltwater, surfing, and fluro" and every Friday they call for hundreds of people to flock to beaches around the world "to surf, laugh, and support each other through their unique struggles with mental disorders." The founders are Grant Trebilco and Sam Schumacher, two surfers and friends. Grant suffers from bipolar disorder, and decided tone day put on a suit, hit the beach and talk to people about mental health disorders, and surf, and thus, the organization was born.
