Getting Help Survey Ends – Results Shown

Hi All,

As promised I have now closed the Getting Help Survey which we launched some weeks back now.

The survey asked folk the following question….

“From the point of trying to get help with your mental health, how long did it take you to get an acceptable diagnosis for your mental health?”

Well as is often the case with these things only 45 people voted but that is a fairly good indicator and so I thought I would share the results with you all…

Interestingly, and very sadly, some 33 voters out of the 45 total voters sad it took over a year before they got an acceptable diagnosis in respect of their mental health.  That equates to some 73.3% of those voting.

A further 3 voters said they had never been diagnosed and a further 2 said they had never accepted the diagnosis that they were given.  This is a further 11% of those voting.

This means that quick and acceptable help was not received by over 84% of those voting.

Other figures were that:

One voter said it took more than one month but less than two months.

One voter said it took more than three months but less than six months.

One voter said it took more than six months but less than  a year.

Thankfully 4 voters stated that they did indeed get an acceptable diagnosis within one month of seeking help for their mental health.

I am extremely aware that this is a very small poll when you consider the amount of people suffering with mental health related challenges and who have actually sought help.  But I can’t help wondering just how indicative this is and why it is this way?

I would certainly be interested in your comments and feedback on this

Getting Help Survey – Closing This Week!

Hi all,

Just to let everyone know that I planning on closing the “Getting Help Survey” this week.

If you haven’t had your say in the survey now is the time to do it.

It only takes a couple of minutes to complete and your vote DOES count!

Simply visit this link – Getting Help Survey – and enter your vote.

Many thanks and kind regards

Kevin.

Have You Voted Yet?

Back at the end of January I posted a piece concerning how long it takes to get an acceptable diagnosis in respect of Mental Health.

In that piece I asked members to vote indicating how long it took them to get the diagnosis that they needed.

About 10 days ago I published a graph indicating the results of the few votes that we had had so far and thought that today I would publish an update on these results as a few members have communicated their interest in this survey.

So here are the results as at about 10 minutes ago..

Personally I find these results very informative and very indicative of what often happens when someone first believes there to be something that needs to be looked at in respect of their mental health.

As is often the case the number of people participating in this survey is still quite low. So can I firstly thank all of you who have voted and secondly put a shout out to all those who haven’t as yet voted asking you to take a view minutes to pop over and vote now?

You can vote by clicking here and then selecting the relevant option.

Many thanks and kind regards.

Kevin.

Introducing Healthsofa.com

Recently I received an email via my personal blog Voices of Glass.  The email in question was from the administrator over at Health Sofa and asked for my input concerning the site.

Health sofa aims “to give users a platform to share and learn from experiences others made in an easy-to-use question-and-answer format.¹” According to what I have been told, the focus, “used to be on medications¹” but has now expanded to “general health topics¹“.

The site is user-led and undergoing some new changes in it’s layout and design at the moment in order to make it more user-friendly and to be appealing to a wider audience.

Working on the understanding, as stated on the site, that they want to “help you with getting an answer to your question.²” And that “The contributors at healthsofa do not provide a replacement for professional help from your doctor or healthcare professional.²” I personally think this could be an excellent resource.

I like the fact that they warn visitors that “No user-generated submissions are reviewed for factual correctness.²” and that they give a clear warning and advice to, “Always consult your doctor if you need specific advice for your healthcare needs.²“

The information provided on the site is free and questions can be asked anonymously without the need to register if you prefer.  And all information shared can serve as basis for research that assists your needs for information.

As bloggers who blog about mental health related issues and who have first hand experience of mental health medication our input can, I feel, be invaluable on such a site.

If you are interested and have the time, why not pop across to HealthSofa and check it out and let me know what you think. I really would be interested in your feedback and I am sure that the administrator over there would also value your feedback.

Whilst I have not advised him that I will be posting this post concerning the site, I am aware that he wishes to get the forum out there and available to more people and I will be advising him of this post so that he too can read your comments concerning the site.

Many thanks.

Kind Regards and God bless you.
Kevin.

¹ Quotes taken from administrator’s email to me.
² Quotes taken directly from the healthsofa site.

Getting Help Survey Reminder.

Hi all.

It has now been a week since we launched the “Getting Help Survey” and the initial results are quite interesting.

The survey focuses on how long it took people from the point of realizing there maybe something with their mental health  that needed attention until the point of receiving an acceptable diagnosis.

More details and a chance to participate in this survey can be found here but here are the initial results after the first week.  Which I think are extremely interesting.

If you haven’t already participated in this survey and would be willing to do so and it is appropriate please go to this link  SURVEY.  Your vote really does matter.

Many thanks.

Kevin

Getting Help Survey

A question arose the other day about how long it takes someone – from the point of their trying to get help with their mental health – to get an actual acceptable diagnosis.

So in response to that question I thought I would do a poll and invite members to participate if they would like to.

I will show the results in a few weeks time:)

Here is the poll – please only answer once.

Many thanks.

Kevin.

Blog For Mental Health 2013 – An Invitation!

Because of the importance of this initiative in my opinion, I am posting this post on all four collective community based blogs that I am involved in: Resonate Freedom, Christian Concern For Mental Health, Teens For Global Mental Health Awareness, and The Mental Health Writers Guild. For those of you who follow more than one of these blogs and thus have this repeated in your inbox I apologize but it really is such a great and important cause in my opinion.

Here is how this thing works:

1.) Take the pledge by copying and pasting the following into a post featuring “Blog for Mental Health 2013″.

I pledge my commitment to the Blog For Mental Health 2013 Project. I will blog about mental health topics not only for myself, but for others. By displaying this badge, I show my pride, dedication, and acceptance for mental health. I use this to promote mental health education in the struggle to erase stigma.

2.) Link back to the person who pledged you.

Ok that one is fairly easy, it was initially Ruby over at I Was Just Thinking via my personal blog “Voices of Glass“.

3.) Write a short biography of your mental health, and what this means to you.

In terms of a short bio in respect of my personal mental health this can be found here, but since this is a collective/community blog I will simply skip this part here. But I do look forward to reading those of anyone who does pledge as a result of this post

4.) Pledge five others, and be sure to let them know!

Here again, due to the collective/community based nature of this blog I am not going to pledge any blog or blogger in particular BUT I do want to encourage all the followers and/or members of this blog to seriously consider getting involved and committing to this cause if you have the time. It really is such an important cause in my opinion.

5.) And, as something novel for 2013, Lulu and I ask one more thing of you.

As you may have noticed, Canvas does not keep an official blogroll, outside of links to our authors’ personal blogs. For something new and special to introduce Blog For Mental Health 2013, and really build a sense of community — and show everyone how many of us there are, and how strong we are, coming together — we are launching a Blog For Mental Health 2013 Official Blogroll! So, in addition to linking back to the person who pledged you, please include the link to the original post in your piece. As this gets passed along, link back or click here and leave a comment containing the link to your pledge, and we will put you on our Blog For Mental Health 2013 Official Blogroll page! Show the world our strength, show them our solidarity, show them what we are made of. Take the Blog for Mental Health pledge and proudly display the badge on your blog!

Closing remarks…

I am so honored to be a part of this cause I hope and pray that so many others will also get involved if they are able!