ashrobins Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 Hi all, I'm here because I was looking for resources on helping someone bereaved through suicide. I work with people with drug and alcohol problems and a member of my team's son killed himself by hanging last week. I have already found a ton of resources for me and my colleagues and ordered him a book from Amazon. I may not even give it to him but it will be there if he needs it. I feel so sad for him and just want to be a good friend and colleague so thanks to whoever put this site, together. It will help a lot of the people around him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yaey Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 you sound like a really dedicated friend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashrobins Posted June 3, 2012 Author Share Posted June 3, 2012 Thank you yaey, that's really kind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olga Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 ashrobins, I'm glad that you have found some good information here. Keep in mind that this is a first person site---it's for mentally ill people, and it is run by mentally ill people. So we're fine with you passing our name along to anyone you know who has MI issues---but we aren't a website for social workers, doctors, therapists and other health workers. (Unless they are mentally ill, of course) olga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashrobins Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 Hi olga, could you expand on that a little for me please? I have found a lot of information through this site that has been very helpful in filling in gaps in my knowledge about illnesses that my clients, family and friends have that has come from a personal rather than clinical perspective. Do you mean that it is not a place where I can post up for advice? If so then I can completely understand and respect that and on a professional level that would not be appropriate for me to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vapourware Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Welcome aboard. I guess we see ourselves as a first-person peer-support site first and foremost. So, participants of Crazyboards have a mental illness themselves. Even the admins, heh - you can see my diagnosis in my signature. If you have a mental illness, by all means stay. However, if you don't have a mental illness, I think our utility is more limited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashrobins Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 Hi Vapourware, I do not wish to make anyone who uses this sit feel uncomfortable through having a presence here. Perhaps a little of my background would help? I am a manager in a drug treatment service and started my journey in that role as a service user and then became a service user representative. From there I volunteered and then was lucky enough to gain employment as a drug worker. Since that time I have taken a degree in counselling, split between humanistic and CBT and now I work in a needle exchange with injecting drug users. My brother has BPD and a chronic drug problem. A close friend has paranoid schizophrenia and, of course, I come across people quite often in my job who have mental health problems ranging across the entire spectrum. I passionately believe that anyone who works with people with mental health problems has a duty to understand them and more importantly, to understand them from the perspective of the person who lives with that problem. I have been through systems that wanted to help but added to my problems because of a lack of empathy. I would know more, that is why I am here. But, if my presence makes anyone feel uncomfortable then I will leave and be happy to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olga Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Ash, the thing is, we are perfectly okay with you searching through our forums for information to pass along to your patients. People come here all the time because they Google a drug name or CBT or some other term and they are brought here. We truly want to be an information resource for anyone who needs our help. Where it gets sticky is when you post in the forums. If someone asks what it's like to be on lithium, they want to get replies from patients who are on it or have been on it. That's what we mean by "first person." We don't want a doctor to post and say "these are the possible side effects blah blah blah" because he's reading off a paper. We want to compare experiences and talk to someone who has walked the walk. If you are in therapy or are presently taking a psych med of some sort, or you are in a substance abuse program, or are being treated in any manner for a mental health issue, you are welcome to post here. In addition, since you are working with people who have mental health issues, I hope you will pass along our URL to any of your clients who might benefit from peer support. I have a neighbor who is an RN, and she works in a local mental health setting. When I told her about CB, she came here to check it out, and then she gave the URL to 3 or 4 of her clients because she thought it might help them to have the peer support. When I talked to her again, she told me that she suffers from severe anxiety and is in treatment for it with a psychiatrist, so I told her that she should come here and participate in our discussions about dealing with GAD. It's okay that she's a nurse, because she is also a patient. I hope that clarifies things for you. We don't want to be unwelcoming---it's just that we do get people from time to time who have a child or spouse or sibling with mental illnesses, and they want to ask questions. Our standard reply is: "Send the ill person here and s/he can get the information and support first-hand." olga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashrobins Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 Thanks for your reply olga. I understand that this is a peer led board and that you are protecting that. I would not want to offer advice to anyone here for a number of reasons but I would like to have it in my toolkit as a resource for the people who i work with, kind of like NA and AA, which I also recommend to others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olga Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Thanks for your reply olga. I understand that this is a peer led board and that you are protecting that. I would not want to offer advice to anyone here for a number of reasons but I would like to have it in my toolkit as a resource for the people who i work with, kind of like NA and AA, which I also recommend to others. That would be fine. You can see, as you read the responses here, that we advocate being med-compliant, and we encourage people to get therapy and try to live a healthy lifestyle. I imagine that most mental health professionals would think that we're okay. I just didn't want you to think that we're rude and unfriendly. Well, we are, sometimes, but not usually! olga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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