I hate the term “rock-bottom” and all of the sloppy metaphors that are associated with it. Here is the problem: you only know where the bottom was in retrospect. When you are at your lowest point, you honestly have no idea how much further down you can go. So that makes it nothing at all […]
Posted in Read Along
I really fought with the lecture today. It covered a lot of history and I just wasn’t feeling it. I know it didn’t go over well with the students because they were all very very quiet. I still have to give makeup exams Friday and Tuesday. All of a sudden things don’t feel good anymore. I don’t know what’s happening but it feels very frustrating.
I need to start on my craft paper and am having trouble deciding what to do. I want to do the book as an example of mommy-brain, but I’m not finding the articles I need on it. I also have the idea to talk about the shifts in point of view, but that seems too obvious. I need to do more research and see what I can do on these topics. Trouble is there’s just not a ton of research out there since the book is so new.
I’m fighting off sleepiness again and not sure why. I just feel like things are spinning just a teensy bit out of control and I need to get ahold of them before more starts to slip. I go see Tillie soon so that is good. Maybe we can forestall whatever is happening.
Hope everyone has a good rest of the week.
Posted in Read Along
October is breast cancer awareness month. I didn’t know that until eight days into October. My realization started when I went to the local grocery store and every other cashier light (you know the one that tells you when their open) was pink. And they were asking for donations at the register for breast cancer research dollars. Still didn’t realize it, because people ask for money for everything now.
Then, I went shopping. Pink shirts for sale everywhere. I was so impressed. Everyone, unless of course you’ve been living under a rock, knows pink is the color for breast cancer. It’s a highly successful awareness campaign that started in full force over twenty years ago. Heck, even the NFL is “pinked out” in October. As a mental health advocate I dream about the day when everyone knows mental health awareness is green and guys like Brandon Marshall (click here for Brandon’s mental health advocacy organization) don’t get fined $10,000 dollars by the NFL for wearing green cleats.
But when something is successful it warrants looking at their model and learning from all the good things breast cancer awareness advocacy organizations have done. In fact, it all peaked my interest in finding out just how much money is spent annually on breast cancer research.
The answer-cloudy. Mmmm….what do I mean by that?
Well, turns out that breast cancer awareness and research are lumped into one big estimated sum of $6 billion a year. Of course there are critics who think all money should be research money. But you don’t get research donations without awareness.
Why is this important to mental health advocacy? Because the National Institute of Mental Health has an annual budget of only $1.5 billion. The National Institute of Mental Health funds research for mental illness and neurological conditions (brain illnesses), like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dementia, depression, etc. All of these illnesses have a fraction of money spent on research.
I compared the annual budget of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, a breast cancer advocacy organization based in Texas, (well known for the trademarked tagline “Race for the Cure”) to that of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the largest mental health advocacy organization in the country. I found the Komen foundation listed as #54 on the Forbes list of U.S. most wealthy charities with $250 million in annual revenue in 2016. That’s for one year folks. On the other hand, NAMI based in Arlington, VA has a little over $10 million in revenue.
In all fairness, NAMI has affiliaties in all 50 states who also have revenue, but I doubt even including all of them would break a $50 million in total revenue.
What’s my point?
How are we going to make sizable contributions as mental health advocates when the largest organization of advocacy only nets $10 million a year? So many diseases to lobby for research on-so few dollars. So many issues to battle, so few people to do the work.
And then there’s this…
#1) STIGMA. It’s not cool to be a mental health advocate.
#2) STIGMA. It’s not sexy to go out and raise money for people who have a mental illness.
#3) STIGMA. These illnesses are misunderstood. They are often not looked at as an illness.
#4) STIGMA. People are ashamed to come out and say they are living with a mental illness.
#5) STIGMA. Policy makers don’t understand it, unless it effects them.
#6) STIGMA. Family members don’t want people to know their loved ones live with a mental illness.
And…
I could go on and on. You get the point. We have limited resources for a very complex problem that most people don’t understand and many fear and are afraid to talk about.
So..if you’re reading this please pick up an advocacy banner. There’s an enormous amount of work that needs done. The Susan G. Komen Foundation started with raising awareness for breast cancer. Mental Health Adovocates have to do the same thing. We have to help one another do this work.
If you’re local to the Wheeling area you can start your advocacy work by showing up at the NAMI Greater Wheeling Walk on October 21 @Wheeling Park. Registration starts at 10am.
And…
We even have cool tee-shirts.
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