Idea: Supporting you....supporting me

 
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  • Created on: 13 Feb 2012
  • Idea status: Just a thought
  • Town: Doncaster
  • Actions: 1
 

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What it's all about

I have a parent who experiences mental health problems and more specifically alcohol addiction. I've found this really difficult at times, despite working in mental health myself and having some understanding of why my mum does what she does. It has been even more difficult for my other siblings who have found it difficult, upsetting and frustrating to understand why my mum constantly breaks promises and doesn't seem to be able to break free from her addiction and get help. We have all found very frustrating that unfortunately services are quite limited when the person themselves does not want help. I would like to set up a website that gives support to family/carers/children of those who have had similar experiences to mine but that also explains the jargon, the reasons why someone needs to consent to treatment, what is available for family members and generally just be there when you feel like you have no one else. I've done a bit of research and found that it's a bit limited out there particularly when you have lots of questions that need answering.
Thanks
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What's needed to make it a reality

I could do with some help setting this up and if anyone has similar experiences what they would find useful....Any advice really would be great!

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  • Avatar Sarah 12:46, 14 February 2012 J49 Team Hello Jenny,

    Welcome to Junction49. I'm Sarah from the Junction49 team here to support you in getting this project set up.

    You clearly have a lot of experience in this area from both a personal and professional perspective and setting this up would be really worthwhile. I was surprised to hear that there isn't much in the way of support out there for friends and family of people experiencing mental health problems. I did a bit of a search myself and I see what you mean that the information provided is very limited when you have a lot of questions.

    To get started with creating a website you can set one up yourself for free using one of the following sites:

    http://www.wix.com/
    http://wordpress.org/

    Other Junction49ers have done this in the past which has proved quite successful as they're pretty easy to use. It might be a good way to map out/planwhat it is you want the site to look like and what you want to be saying. In the future you can then always apply for funding to develop it.

    There is also something through BT which you can access called the BT Community Kit. From what I understand, they'll support you to create your own website. You can find out more here: http://www.btck.co.uk/

    In the meantime whilst you're creating this, you can always apply for funding to cover the costs of promoting the site if that is something you think you might need. The best place to apply to would be O2 Think Big.

    http://www.o2thinkbig.co.uk/
    Awards of up to £2500 for your project, given in stages, for projects to improve the community. This is open to 13-25 year olds. In the first round you can apply for £300 and then after you've completed that part of the project you might get invited to apply for £2500.

    If you do decide to go for funding and need any help with filling out the applications then just let me know.

    Once you have got a website set up, one of the best ways to promote it (which would also be free) is through Twitter/create a Facebook page. You could use Twitter to follow people who are interested in similar things and could start tweeting about some of the stuff on the site or also by asking people to see if they have anything that they would like to contribute.

    I hope that helps to get you started. If you have any questions about anything relating to this feel free to get in touch and of course you can keep us updated with how it's all going.

    Sarah     Report Abuse
  • Avatar Sarah 13:40, 07 March 2012 J49 Team Hello,

    I just wanted to check in to see how things were going and whether I could help in anyway at all? If you've got any questions about any of the above, please feel free to get in contact :-)

    Sarah     Report Abuse
  •   Avatar Sarah 13:36, 12 March 2012 J49 Team Hello,

    I just spotted this on Rethink: http://www.rethink.org/young_people/index.html

    If you scroll down the page it says they are going to be starting a new programme in April providing support to young people who care for parents who have a mental illness. If you want to find out more follow the link and get in touch with them.

    Hope that's useful.

    Sarah     Report Abuse
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