The time has come to start thinking about what you're going to read (or watch) for my upcoming Suicide and Mental Illness Awareness Theme! This is going to be an informal event occurring during the months of September and October. Anyone who wants to participate can hop in at any point during these two months and post a link to a review of a book or movie/show/documentary that promotes suicide and mental illness awareness.
As I said in my post To ASIST or not to assist, I believe that it is very important for people to be open and supportive about mental illness and suicidal ideation. Stigma pollutes our culture, discouraging people who need help from speaking out - it's the people who talk who end up healing. We need more healthy people in the world, and suicide and mental illness advocacy is one way to promote this goal.
During my event, I will have posts which collect links to reviews from participants. I will host suicide / mental illness giveaways. And, hopefully, I can find some guest bloggers who wish to share their thoughts and experiences in mental illness advocacy. Please let me know if you have something you want to share!
There's no need to formally sign up for this event, but if you'd like, it would be nice to get a headcount in the comments to this post...so I know how many giveaways I should plan. See you all soon!
Do you know of any links to good books that deal with the issue? I'm really interested in joining in, but I'm not sure I have any books on my tbr to read at the moment. I know I would like to read some though, this is such an important topic!
ReplyDeleteYup, working on preparing a good list (and finding a few online). Personally, I think I'm going to go with a Sylvia Plath theme for myself this year. But no-one else need be held to that. :) I'll post the list very soon!
DeleteThis is a great event Rachel. I will try to join you and I am thinking about possible reads.
ReplyDeleteIt is fantastic that you have shown such strong support for this cause,
Thanks Brian!
DeleteCount me in. Hope to see suggestions for the reading. MTM
ReplyDeleteSuggestions coming soon! Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteSo glad you are spreading awareness. Not enough people are open about these issues.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! Thanks for your support!
DeleteOh good, I have finally found this post again after looking for it like crazy. Who knew the words "book blog challenges" would bring it right up?
ReplyDeleteOnto a more serious note, I am so happy you're having this theme/challenge. Suicide and mental health are very important topics to me and it's sad how there isn't more done about it. I really love the idea of this raising awareness.
You can definitely sign me up. I'll review a few books for sure because there are a lot of suicide/mental health books I've been wanting to read. I am a little confused on what you mean by "promote suicide and mental illness awareness".
Do you mean any book/movie/etc. where a character is dealing with suicidal thoughts, a character has committed suicide, a character deals with mental illnesses, etc? I just want to be clear I understand what to review.
Once again, this is such a great idea.
Hi Amber! I'm glad you found the post again, too. :) I'll be posting a list of books / movies soon, still hammering out some details and trying to get some guest posters. This is meant to be a simple and fun way to spread awareness of mental illness - nothing formal. If you read a book (or watch a movie) that has a suicidal character, or a mentally ill character, feel free to make comment/review on it. Or you can be more hard-core and read non-fiction. Anything goes, as long as YOU feel it increases your awareness of mental illness. :)
DeleteThanks everyone! I'm going to come back within the next couple of days and answer your comments individually. And I'll also put up a post with more clear instructions as well as some suggestions for books / movies. But, the basic answer is YES, any book / movie / show / essay that contains a character or subject of mental illness or suicide counts! :)
ReplyDeleteI'll be back soon with more! Thanks for everyone's interest!
I planned on getting signed up a long time ago but just never got to it. Here is my post about joining the challenge. I've also included links to suggested reading lists. http://booksareportablemagic.blogspot.com/2014/09/suicide-and-mental-illness-awareness.html
ReplyDelete