When I think about activism, I immediately am drawn to the idea of organizations whose sole purpose is to help make the taboo subjects of things like suicide and depression something that people can talk about. Mental illnesses are things that many people choose not to acknowledge that they exist. The problem with the notion that its not socially acceptable to talk about these topics forces more people to live in pain. What I've found interesting about social media's current plight of popularity, is that it's giving a platform for young people to become less scared to talk about mental illnesses. There are many organizations like The It Gets Better Project, To Write Love on Her Arms, Love is Louder Than..., and the Semi-Colon Project which all have used social media to make the missions of their organizations heard to people around the world. Their usage of social media is helping to break down the barriers that help make mental and emotional illnesses so hard to talk about.
What I've found is that many of these organizations have taken action by just being able to provide information to large groups of people via the internet but what about in every day life? The goal of many of these non-profit organizations is just to educate on what it means to deal with depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide. I often find it frustrating to see that there is no "ground work" being done to make that happen. Due to that reason, I would like to explore how to bridge the gap between education and helping real people in every day situations. Currently, I am working on getting my own nonprofit organization underway that aims to help people of color--mainly college students--with how to deal with depression and anxiety while in school. The college atmosphere heightens those feelings in certain people and minorities are never thought of to having to suffer with depression or anxiety. I know how media can help inform people, but how can I use it to help people that need assistance today? How can we be on the front line of saving someone from drug abuse, cutting, alcoholism, and suicidal thoughts by only using media? There has to be a way to take action on these issues beyond just telling someone that certain feelings are unhealthy. I hope that by researching this topic, I can help myself learn how to be a better activist and how to make my nonprofit organization successful.
What I've found is that many of these organizations have taken action by just being able to provide information to large groups of people via the internet but what about in every day life? The goal of many of these non-profit organizations is just to educate on what it means to deal with depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide. I often find it frustrating to see that there is no "ground work" being done to make that happen. Due to that reason, I would like to explore how to bridge the gap between education and helping real people in every day situations. Currently, I am working on getting my own nonprofit organization underway that aims to help people of color--mainly college students--with how to deal with depression and anxiety while in school. The college atmosphere heightens those feelings in certain people and minorities are never thought of to having to suffer with depression or anxiety. I know how media can help inform people, but how can I use it to help people that need assistance today? How can we be on the front line of saving someone from drug abuse, cutting, alcoholism, and suicidal thoughts by only using media? There has to be a way to take action on these issues beyond just telling someone that certain feelings are unhealthy. I hope that by researching this topic, I can help myself learn how to be a better activist and how to make my nonprofit organization successful.