Hi there @Brick In The Wall,
I am writing to say that I think your idea is great.
Truly great and admirable. It shows that you care and care enough to start an initiative that might help not only yourself, but others too. I respect that all more because it is a very rare to come by in this world of ours.
There is never, ever a shortage of those who parade various items (t--shirts, badges, slogans, etc.) on their social media accounts to demonstrate their support for their less fortunate counterparts, especially those carted into a 'mental health issues buses ' (various euphemism float around, but in essence it all comes down to 'being different', for what ever reason, and not fitting neatly into the main stream population.
On rare occasion a person is blessed with either money and/or caring and knowledgeable family - and it makes a word difference to them and their families. That is the best and the rarest outcome.
The rest (vast majority) are lonely, isolated, jobless, homeless, drunk, high and on the mercy of an inadequate/underfunded health system, occasional mate with a good heart, SS forum and finally street and a cop-shop.
That, simplified and summarized, is what I have noted about the mental health systems word over, of course with regional differences.
Not one of the peeps with postings on their social media accounts I mentioned at the start of the paragraph is anywhere to be seen to spare few hours to sit with a person in pain from loneliness, and/or offer to support them at least semi-regularly and/or offer to do something that the sufferer would actually find helpful. Something that gives a hope. Hope that, no matter how dead awful the situation might be, there is a someone who genuinely care. It is my view that this kind of help might make a meaningful different to lots of people. I have been thinking of calling it 'Peer Support' as I prefer it to be a support group regardless of whether or not the final goal is recovery in its ordinary meaning. In other words - if people establish genuine, meaningful connections, that, in and of itself is a 'recovery' in terms of better quality of life for however long/short. Because however elaborately worded, or 'disguised' inside various reasonings, at the heart of each 'loner' or 'outsider' whose solitude chips at his/her soul each night like water does to a stone ... is the deep human sorrow of not belonging. You can of course argue that this whole forum is one such 'Peer Support' group, and I would agree, except I think that it is too large, loose and transient to really function like committed peer support group.
I am sorry for this long post. I really value your idea and your contribution.
Una
Thank you for sharing a piece of your story and I'm happy you're choosing recovery despite the ongoing pain you're going through. The CTB thoughts help put me at ease as well, I can go whenever I feel it's too much
