Hello @Coffeelover
and
@Rosie @Anastasia @Former-Member @MinnaBee333 @Milk @myoctopus @Appleblossom @MinnaBee333 @Bezak482 @Judi9877 @greenpea @Eve7 @Anastasia @NatureLover @Mazarita @Former-Member @Emelia8 @StuF @Schitzo
@Phoenix80 @Queenie @Eden1919 @Teej @Libra @KAn1 @universepocket @Ayesha @Notsomentalau @Shazab @Shimmer @rogueone @R4012 @Fractured @Tracey
@Organism @Jennifer12345 @theaveragejoe @Hunter @1221 @crimson_celt
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In responding to your post, I have invited a few people, some from a while back, along for the conversation, which may, hopefully, be productive.
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It is my belief and understanding that this forum community is a place where we can each share our thoughts and feelings, sometimes our anger. Here people will listen, generally without judgement and with caring understanding, following that with any observations that they feel may be helpful or constructive. From an outsider's perspective, it seems that anger and rage really add to the negative perceptions in the "wider community".
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If there is to be change, it seems to me that it has to be initiated "at Source", meaning by the people who are affected by this issue, rather than the therapists, counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists. I can say, that even as a member of this forum, I know very little about the affects of schizophrenia and know little, if anything, about how a person deals with their own experience of schizophrenia.
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I believe that this forum is a place where such changes can be explored. That the information, experience, confronting issues, can be presented in a way that allows others to give feedback and support. And in an environment where our own identity is protected by the pseudonym and avatar. The forum, while some of its function is to provide people with an environment for humour and simple courtesies and distractions from the everyday burden of their problems, can also be a place for ideas, presentations and formats to be developed and, when appropriate, be more widely distributed throughout the community.
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I do hope that, as a person who faces other MH issues in my life, I am generally more understanding and empathic toward people, with a range of MI/D's, than others who are functioning "normally", or think that they are, and have little knowledge or contact with people who have MI/D issues. Some of the issues that I face, about which I sometimes can't be specific, partially because of lack of attention and treatment earlier in life, when I, as I am now aware, was not functioning in the way that would "normally" have been expected. So, towards the end of my life, I am trying to sort out the original issues and the tangle created in my life, because those issues were ignored, considered insignificant, or I thought that the way, and the conditions, under which I was living, were the same as for everyone else.
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If I can contribute anything to your post, I hope it would be to encourage you and others in similar positions, to consider using the forum as a sounding board for ideas that may then be extended out into the "wider community".
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With My Very Best Wishes
@HenryX
