Now Is The Time

Posted by: Alison Chisnell on: January 15, 2013

• In: Mental health | Values
• 10 Comments

So, my original plan was to follow-up the wonderful advent blog series with a summary post presenting my learning and the analytics and then take a bit of a break from blogging. That summary post will absolutely follow soon, but as many of you will be aware, Day 43 of the series created a tidal wave of interest and commitment from people across and beyond my network to come together and do something about the topic of mental health.

It is too easy to feel that surge of commitment and then to fail to take action. If you need any further proof, look here to a post that I wrote about mental health two years ago and have done very little about since. I have spoken at length with the author of the post and both of us have chatted with Mind to devise a plan for all who want to get involved and push for change. Here’s how it’s looking so far –

Shine a Light

We need to talk more, socially and in real life about mental health and things that matter. I would like to offer up my blog for a mini-series of guest posts about mental health issues, along the theme of the excellently named 25% Club (thanks to Lorna for that one!). These posts can be as wide and varied as you like: either from people who want to share their experiences of being affected by mental health issues, or individuals sharing the small steps that they or their organisations have made to make a difference. The posts can be either anonymous or accredited and all are welcome.

My provisional start date for this series is Monday 21^st January. As ever, I am in your hands for this! I know that so many of us are deeply affected and care passionately about the topic, so I remain optimistic that we can make this happen.

Expert Guidance

This is a real team effort between me and the author of the post. We both know that to have any hope of making this a lasting change, getting guidance from experts is key. We are teaming up with some brilliant organisations who will help us publicise our efforts and spread awareness of the small, practical steps we can all take in our own organisations. We need you, as many of you as we can get, who have been touched by the post and are willing to listen and learn about how we can make a difference.  Tomorrow, there will be post from the author of Courage to tell you more about what we are planning…watch this space!

So, are you in? Would you like to be a part of this and make 2013 a year where we do all we can to make a difference to this? I really hope so! Because if not now…then when? There has never been a better time than now.

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If you care about mental health and want to make a difference there are lots of things you can do

• visit Mind’s website and check out their excellent corporate resources
• take the ‘time to change’ pledge
• attend our event with Mind on 5th February 2013 at 6pm
• share your story and read those of others as part of the #25percentclub blog series

Tags: Mental health, Mental health and HR