Is this a topic you’re interested in? Would you like to talk about it, or lead a workshop?

Here’s your chance – our call for speakers.

We are looking for session leaders who speak from personal or professional experience with mental health or mental illness.

We will have approximately 10 45-minute slots, with 6 slots for prearranged speakers (e.g. approved by the selection committee), and 4 slots for “Mental Moose” – a continuation of the unconference tradition of Moosecamp at northern voice. During “Mental Moose”, participants who are interested in leading a session can pitch them on Saturday morning with a quick 30-second talk. Everyone will then vote on which sessions will be presented, and the winning sessions will be scheduled.

The theme for this year’s MentalHealthCamp is

DIVERSITY

Diversity of opinions
Diversity of religion
Diversity of ideas on how to deal with mental health
Diversity of sexual orientation
Diversity in age
Diversity in ethnic backgrounds
Diversity in socioeconomic status
Diversity of ability
And … ? (please feel free to add!)

Each one of these topics contains vast, interesting fields in and of themselves. Just think of the topic of mental health among British Columbia’s South Asian population; the diverse/diverging of the radical psychology group (here with another diversity topic: gender and bodily difference); or mental health and Christian churches. we could even look at diversity from yet another point of view – adding the topic/twist of mental health to existing bodies of research, such as the growing area of research into tourism and mental health.

Since MentalHealthCamp is about the intersection between mental health and social media, speakers and participants will discuss issues that touch on both topics, in whatever weird and wonderful and different ways. Also, this will continue to be a grassroots-based event. As long as a speaker has something interesting and constructive to contribute, it is of no consequence whether she or he has a PhD in psychiatry or is a master in the art of living a life touched by mental illness. Come one, come all! It is, after all, about diversity.

Once again, we might also have a virtual session. If you’re unable to attend the conference in person but have the technical know-how, let’s talk about using technology to bring you right into our conference here in vancouver.

If you’re interested in presenting, please send us a short (100 words or less) description of the proposal, together with a short (50 words or less) bio about yourself by June 16. Please send it to moritherapy at shaw dot ca.

The conference will happen on July 23, 2011, from 9:30am to 5:00 pm, at Vancouver’s Gallery Gachet at 88 East Cordova street .

“Mental Moose” slots are opportunities for people to propose sessions the morning of the conference. The sessions will be voted on by participants, and the proposals with the most votes will be slotted into the available times. It’s called “Mental Moose” in nostalgic memory of Northern Voice’s Moosecamp.

9-9:30 Keynote

9:35-10:20
Room 1
Escape from Bummer Island – Imagining A Mental Health Adventure Game
By “Depression 2.0”

9:35-10:20
Room 2
Arts Based Advocacy: Sound Therapy Radio
By Jay Peachy

9:35-10:20
Room 3
Mental Moose

10:15-11:00
Room 1
Ripping the Scabs off Through Writing
By Steffani Cameron

10:15-11:00
Room 2
Digital Outing / Mad Pride
By Steven Schwartz

10:15-11:00
Room 3
Getting By With A Little Help From Our Friends
By Henry Jue

11-11:20 BREAK

11:25-12:10
Room 1
MHSM Chat – A virtual session about the weekly mental health chat on Twitter
By Amy Kiel

11:25-12:10
Room 2
How Covenant House’s blog “On the House” helps break the silence around mental health issues
By Michelle Clausius

11:25-12:10
Room 3
Mental Moose

12:15-1:40 LUNCH

1:45-2:30
Room 1
ADHD and stigma
By Pete Quily

1:45-2:30
Room 2
Panel: Being ‘out’ about various forms of mental illness such as bipolar disorder, eating disorders, ADD, and post-partum depression
By Terra, Steve, Steff and Catherine

1:45-2:30
Room 3
Mental Moose

2:35-3:20
Room 1
Who gets to talk about mental health? When, where, why, how?
By Isabella Mori

2:35-3:20
Room 2
Mental Moose

2:35-3:20
Room 3
Mental Moose

3:50-4:25
Room 1
The Power Of Words and The Power Of Bikes – A Journalist Goes on a Bicycle Tour to Raise Awareness of Mental Health
By Michael Schratter

3:50-4:25
Room 2
Mental Moose

3:50-4:25
Room 2
Mental Moose

4:30-5:00 Closing Statements

We will have 15 sessions between 45 and 60 minutes’ length.

The topic is “Breaking Our Silence. Setting us Free.” We would like to examine how silence hurts mental health, and, even more importantly, how using our voice helps us achieve and maintain mental health.

We are looking for session leaders who speak from personal or professional experience with mental health or mental illness.

We will have 9 slots for prearranged speakers (e.g. approved by the selection committee), and will keep 6 slots open for “Mental Moose” – a continuation of the unconference tradition of MooseCamp at Northern Voice. During Mental Moose, participants who are interested in leading a session can pitch them on Saturday morning with a quick 30-second talk. Everyone will then vote on which sessions will be presented, and the winning sessions will be scheduled.

Also, we would like to experiment with having one or two virtual sessions. Do you live in New Zealand and would like to present? Are you unable to leave your children and your dogs alone in rural Quebec but have an important story to share? If you have the technical know-how, let’s talk about using technology to bring you right into our conference here in Vancouver.

Would you like to present? If so

• please contact us and send us a short proposal, containing
• your name(s) and email,
• an overview over what you would like to discuss (100-200 words), including how your talk relates to the topic of “Breaking Our Silence. Setting Us Free.”
• a bio (30-100 words)
• indicate your social media presence (e.g. your blog, twitter address, etc.)
• tell us a little (30-100 words) about your personal and/or professional experience with mental health and mental illness
• indicate whether you’d like to present in real life or whether you propose a virtual session

This call for speakers is open during all of May 2010 – which, incidentally, is Mental Health Month.

Darren Barefoot, Julie Szabo and the Mental Health Foundation of BC

Brainstorming Session: Forming an online mental health community – 55 minutes

The Mental Health Foundation of BC wants to build a pair of online communities on two particular topics: mental health in the workplace and mental health and youth. To this effect, they’ll run a brainstorming session to explore what form these communities should take, the issues they should address and the ways they should interact with the larger mental health online space.

Background: The BC Mental Health Foundation is the fundraising arm of the BC Mental Health and Addictions Agency. Their mission is to change the face of mental health by supporting breakthroughs in public understanding, research and knowledge exchange.

Darren Barefoot is a local marketer, writer and technologist. The co-founder of Capulet Communications, a web marketing firm specializing in high-tech and sustainability clients, Darren writes a blog at DarrenBarefoot.com.

*****

Airdrie Miller

ERROR 404 Page Not Found – 30 minutes

After years of blogging about her personal story, Airdrie Miller decided to take her blog down. What she discovered by doing this is now part of her journey to mental wellness and freedom from the societal stigmatization of people with mental illnesses.

Bio: Airdrie Miller lives in Burnaby, BC. She is a highschool teacher, wife, and mother to two daughters.

*****

Sandra Kiume

Mental health marketing using social media – 55 minutes

This session will discuss a hashtag suicide prevention experiment on Twitter (#unsuicide) and You Tube video contests that crowdsource mental health anti-stigma PSAs. What do these concepts have in common? Tagging and remixing mental health info into social media, by using new media. People are sharing their experiences and their creativity to help each other in new ways that weren’t technically possible even a few years ago. This is an ideal interactive Twitter discussion session and is intended to inspire some video makers too.

Bio: Sandra Kiume is an early adopter with over a decade of experience blogging about mental health, stigma, and psychological science research. She is a pro blogger at PsychCentral.com as well as a hobby blogger. Vlog Channel N curates brain and behaviour videos, while Twitter account @unsuicide is a unique suicide prevention peer crowdsourcing initiative. For fun, she makes animated Twitter mashup videos and moblogs discarded clothing.

*****

Isabella Mori

Blogging Ourselves Home – 55 minutes

Blogging as writing, and writing as self expression and creativity: How can we “blog ourselves home” – to a safe, comfortable, relaxed, creative, supportive and healing place from which we can launch ourselves into the world and be brave, wise and have fun as we share our stories and ideas with hundreds and thousands of readers.

The title is reminiscent of Kimberley Snow’s workbook “Writing Yourself Home” that looks at personal growth both on an individual and societal level.

This will be done in an interactive workshop format, and will be informed in part by the writings of James Pennebaker, Kimberley Snow, Louise Desalvo and others.

Bio: Isabella Mori is one of the workshop organizers. A counsellor in Vancouver,  she helps people make a better life for themselves so that they can make the world a better place, and blogs at change therapy.

*****

Lorraine Murphy

Anonymity and pseudonymity: Freedoms, dangers and responsibilities – 80 minutes

In this presentation I’ll discuss the postive and negative uses of pseudonymity and anonymity, its freedoms, its dangers, and its responsibilities. Indeed, in a world where new identities can be formed at the click of a button, we have a larger burden of duty than we would in one where our reputations could follow us around for the rest of our lives. As well, we will examine the principle of privacy as it applies to online activities, particularly with regard to its limitations. We will touch on role theory as well as look at some examples of sites using the concept of identity in a fluid and creative fashion.

Bio: Lorraine Murphy has been blogging for many years; her flagship blog is raincoaster.  Ms Murphy is the author of Terminal City: Vancouver’s Missing Women. As one of the cornerstone volunteers in the WordPress.com technical help forums, she has long experience helping beginning bloggers develop fluency and achievement online.

*****

Pete Quily

ADHD – Busting the myths, breaking the stigma, showing reality, one post and tweet at a time – 80 minutes

Pete Quily will give an overview of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), its positive and negative sides, and some of the other conditions that often come with ADHD how it interacts with other diagnoses (e.g. Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, etc.) He will talk about ways to deal with ADHD, famous people with ADHD, and then launch into the stigma of ADHD and its consequences. We’ll discuss

How can social media stigmatize, attack, judge, condemn and trivialize?

How can social media can be used to break the myths and stigma around ADHD and show real people’s stories?

Bio: Pete Quily is an ADHD coach in Vancouver and blogs at Adult ADD Strengths.

*****

Karen Fung

Mental Health and Cultural Sensitivity – Services and Stigma in Vancouver’s Ethnic Communities

A discussion about the stigma of mental health in ethnic communities, language-specific mental health resources in the Lower Mainland, and mental health services provided to non-English speakers and/or immigrants.

A UBC study looked at how likely doctors from the Chinese Canadian community were to diagnose mental illness, as well as breakdowns of usage of mental health services like counselling.

The discussion will also include the experience of counselling service providers with a focus on services in languages other than English, and whether online visibility through blogging and people sharing their experiences has helped more people to be aware of and/or access their services.

Bio: Karen Quinn Fung is a community-oriented communicator based in Vancouver, B.C. with an incurable knack for combining seemingly-unrelated things in unexpected ways. A Canadian-born, Vancouver-raised youngest child of immigrants, Karen received her bachelor’s degree in Communication in 2008, focusing on the interaction of society with technology. Her latest focus is the master’s program in sustainable urban design and transportation planning at UBC.

Twitter – @counti8; blog – http://www.countablyinfinite.ca

*****

Dr. Keely Kolmes

Social Networking, Visibility, and the Therapeutic Alliance – 55 minutes

How do clients and therapists feel about sharing online social spaces? Come participate in a conversation for therapists and clients alike to explore how these issues are coming up in the therapeutic relationship. This talk involves high audience participation and will provide a unique opportunity for both clients and therapists to share ideas and to explore the intersection between online space and therapy.

Bio: Keely Kolmes, Psy.D. is a clinical psychologist in private practice in San Francisco. She has also been a staff psychologist at Stanford University’s Counseling & Psychological Services for the past six years where she has treated students dealing with anxiety, depression, OCD, sexuality, relationships, and identity in their online and offline lives.. She is fascinated with the intra and interpersonal challenges and opportunities presented by the Web 2.0 world. Her full C.V. and blog are available on her website.  She can also be followed on Twitter as drkkolmes

******

Taryn Gunter, Canadian Mental Health Association, Vancouver/Burnaby Branch

Tales from a Rookie, Or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love to Blog – 30 minutes

Why we, as an organization, decided to get involved with blogging and other social media; the joys of lurkerhood – social media use by “regular” folks; reaching out to people who don’t the CMHA’s resources regularly; and using social media as a more organic way to be accountable to our participants, to the community, and to each other.

Background: CMHA Van/Bby has a track record of developing many of the most innovative and effective new approaches to realing with mental illness available in the community today. Its response to the crisis of mental illness ranges from prevention, education, and information services, right through to rehabilitation and community support to those recovering from mental illness.

******

Terra aka @zoeyjane

Stigma – Challenging Perceptions – 80 minutes

Stigma is only present when we let it be.

Terra will speak about her experience as a mommy blogger who struggles with mental health issues, and the real-life consequences of that.

Because she is outspoken, she is known in some circles as a ‘real’ blogger and writer, one of the few moms who are blatantly honest about the struggles of parenting with mental illness (or hell, even with toddlers), and the ways we cope. She is often someone people feel comfortable letting their demons out to, or to ask for advice from.

Terra will ask questions like, what does a person with bipolar disorder (supposedly) act like? What is a mommy blogger? Does someone with bipolar disorder have the ability to parent?

She’ll delve a little into her own history and will give examples of other mommy bloggers who are “out” about living with mental illness.

Talking about mental illness is starting to become accepted now, not something to hide, in shame, as it was even three years ago. Even in the momosphere.

Bio: Terra is a Vancouver-based freelance writer and blogger. A single mother with a string of diagnoses in her past, she thrives in the beautiful West End with her two year old daughter. Her blog is Mommy Is Moody

******

Christine Rondeau

Give your brain a rest with Yoga Nidra – 15 minutes

Our brains are constantly on the go, thinking, worrying, dwelling on past events and sometimes focusing too much on the negative. Wouldn’t it be great if you could give your brain a break and it to be more positive? Yoga Nidra can do just that and all you need is 10 minutes. Even better is the fact that you can do this sitting down while listening to your iPod. In this short demonstration, we’ll take you through a very brief session to show you how great it can make you feel.

Bio: Christine Rondeau has been practicing yoga for over 5 years. Initially focused on healing a physical injury, she soon realized that the mental benefits were quite substantial. She now maintains a regular yoga “diet” that keeps her sane and happy. Christine’s online home is at Blue Lime Media

******

Raul Pacheco

Telling Your Personal Story via Social Media Tools as a Method to Cope with Mild Depression Associated with Academic Pressure

I am an academic, although I claim no knowledge of mental illness. However, there have been a few instances during my academic career that I have felt down, maybe even depressed. I started blogging as a diversion, a distraction and now I can safely say that when I am having even a very mild case of depression, I use social media tools as a coping mechanism. I am going to share my story in hopes that it may encourage those who feel the pressure of academic success to release frustrations and/or deal with depression via blogging/twittering.

Bio: Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega (PhD, The University of British Columbia) is a Vancouver-based educator, researcher and consultant in the field of environmental policy, who happens to blog. He has 3 years of experience sharing his day-to-day life in Vancouver and is passionate about de-stigmatizing issues associated with mental health. He also firmly believes that sharing one’s story is just one of the many pathways to alleviate depression and other similar mental ills.

However, we would like to have more still, perhaps on these topics:

• Depression
• Addiction
• Family members with mental illness
• Medications

Here are examples of types of proposals we will give preference to:

• Speakers who discuss their direct experience with mental illness
• Proposals that give examples of how social media can be useful for people experiencing or recovering from mental illness
• Proposals that promise to tell a good story
• Proposals that ask deep/interesting/useful questions
• Proposals with high audience involvement
• Proposals that suggest novel solutions
• Proposals that are a direct reply to the topics posted on Isabella’s blog when this all started

Proposals that are primarily self-help “how to’s” (e.g. how to use yoga to help with depression) or are mostly aimed at showcasing someone’s expertise will have a smaller chance of being selected.

Deadline for proposals is 12 pm Pacific Daylight Time, April 8.

For more info on session proposals, see here.

We don’t have our schedule completely worked out yet but the idea is to have sessions anywhere between 40 and 85 minutes. We will have between 6 and 10 sessions.

If you would like to present, please contact us and send us a short proposal, containing your name(s) and email, an overview over what you would like to discuss (no more than 200 words), a bio (no more than 100 words), and indicating your social media presence (e.g. your blog, twitter address, etc.)

The general questions we’d like to address, according to our soon-to-be finalized press release (thanks, Cathy!) are

• How can blogging help decrease the stigma of mental health?
• How does someone with a mental illness navigate the waters of anonymity in the transparent world of social media?
• How is the journaling that happens in blogging similar to or different from journaling for healing?
• How can social media participants with mental health issues help each other?

Here are some specific topics we thought might be of interest. As of today, March 10, some of these already have “dibs” – we’ve indicated where that is the case. However, if there is a topic to which you would like to contribute, please let us know, and maybe there is still room.

• Depression
• Anonymity (Lorraine, @unsuicide) – maybe also talk about the vulnerability that comes with putting your story “out there” even when the blogger is anonymous.
• Stigma, myth and activism
• Writing (update – Isabella would like to do something about that)
• Addiction
• ADD (Pete Quily)
• Information production and information consumption – on the consumption side, credibility and reliability issues (@unsuicide?)
• Family members with mental illness
• Medications
• Online commiseration and community building

Want to get even more specific? Here is part of the summary of suggested topics from Isabella’s blog.

• Blogging and language; i.e. the language of “mental illness” vs. “mental health” or “personal growth”; how does language stigmatize?
• What problems has “being out” caused in personal and professional life?
• How to deal with commenters/bloggers making “antipsychiatry” suggestions (”don’t take medication” or “you don’t need to see a professional”)
• How can the blogging culture subvert the dominant therapeutic paradigm?
• How to deal with trolls on mental health blogs
• How long to blog about mental health? When you reach the point of truly getting over your problems, what happens next?
• What happens when a person’s distress increases due to blogging (as in peer-reinforced delusions, one-upmanship in “I’m more depressed than you are” virtual community interactions, internet addiction etc)
• Does a feeling of exposure sometimes arise which can go beyond discomfort and become crippling?
• Many famous people have been bipolar or unipolarly depressives. I would like blogs to mention more about the amazing visions of people like Edgar Allen Poe and the long list of others who have given without focusing on their disorder.

AN UPDATE on speaker proposals is here.