For World Mental Health Month this October, we really wanted to become more actively involved in shining light on this important issue. With the gentle urging of @garybilbao, who writes often on mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, and the support of our team, we colloborated with Hive Buzz to create a badge to reward content creators on HIVE! Thankyou @arcange for getting this up and running. If you'd like to see what rewards you have already, or the ones you can earn, click here.
Mental Health Month is an event which aims to reduce the discrimination against people living with mental illness and the stigma they endure, whilst promoting positive wellbeing in local and global communities.
On HIVE, we are aware that even the seemingly strongest and most resilient people can be affected by stress, illness and life events - and it can be quite the journey to overcome mental health conditions (challenges). And if it's not us suffering personally,through (notably) anxiety and depression, we will likely know a friend, family member or colleague who is struggling.
The distribution of the MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS badge is a small gesture that rewards those who contribute to the conversation around this important topic.
Why the Lotus?
Symbolically, we see the lotus as the bloom that arises from the muddy waters of discomfort and despair. Like the seed that cracks open in the dark earth, the lotus rises from the mud in all it's beautiful splendour, suggesting there can be a way to live with, if not overcome, anxiety and depression.
How to Get a Mental Health Awareness Badge
We will be distributing these as posts - and bloggers who consistently shine light on mental health awareness - are discovered by our curators. Please use the tag #mentalhealthawareness and post in the Natural Medicine community so we are sure to see them. If you think your post deserves attention and we have missed it, please contact one of our Lotus Curators within the community.
Whilst the amount of times you shine light on mental health issues is a criteria, it is not the only one. A one off, heartfelt and poignant post or a particularly useful article might stand out to our Lotus Curators as being eligible for the badge. If the majority agree, the badge will be distributed.
Earn More Stars
The more you shine light, the more stars you receive!
What to Write About
We can't tell you exactly what to write about, but here is some inspiration. Perhaps some of these topics will pique your interest! Of course, we expect original content - don't just rehash what you read on the internet! We also really appreciate personal stories, although these are not a prerequisite for the badge.
- Start a well being activity in your local community and document it, taking positive action to address mental health issues - for example, a morning tea or a mindfulness session.
- Encourage and invite people to share their journey over a meal or other shared entertainment - host a concert on Discord!
- What is your personal experience with mental health, and what steps have you taken/do you take to manage it?
- How is mental health addressed in your workplace, and/or how could it be managed better?
- Do you believe mental health issues have been sidelined due to the pandemic?
- How might exercise such as jogging or yoga help with depression?
- What are the links between gut health and particular mental health issues?
- What advice would you give to someone who experiences generalised anxiety disorder or any other mental health issue?
- What research or studies or science shines light on mental health? A good one for #steemstem bloggers!
- What food or diet helps or hinders anxiety disorders?
- Is suicide amongst young people more common in these times, and what can be done about it?
- What herbal remedies might assist in the management of mental health issues?
Other Rewards for Shining The Light
- We'll reblog your post to @uplotus and @naturalmedicine
- We'll curate your post and give you part post beneficiary if you are ALSO a delegator to Natural Medicine (we might even tip you, depending on WOW factor and fund availability!)
- We'll share your post on Twitter
- We'll submit your post for OCD curation, as part of the Community Incubation Project organised by @acidyo
We hope you are as excited about this collaboration with Hive Buzz as we are - please reblog, tweet and share this post with your people!
Earn Instantly For Writing Good Natural Health Content
If you would like to earn rewards for sharing your natural health content on www.naturalmedicine.io, you can sign up for a free FREE account by emailing welcome@naturalmedicine.io. Read more about us on our Welcome Page. We support writers sharing about herbalism, TCM, yoga, meditation, vegan and other healthy diets, as well as earth centred practices such as foraging, permaculture and biodynamics.
Please consider delegating to help keep this collective going. For any questions, come ask in our friendly Discord here !
I love this initiative! It is extremely important to draw the attention of people in general to mental illness. Nobody is exempt from suffering some mental disorder, and although this is a lapidary truth, in general there is a lot of prejudice, ignorance, misunderstanding and bad attitude to those who suffer from a problem of this nature. Currently, with the Covid19 crisis, the stressors and triggers of mental illnesses increase, and if there is no network of social and family relationships that support the patient, these pathologies are exacerbated. In the case of my country, Venezuela, it is an even worse story, a tragedy, because here there is no way to get psychotropics and being able to access specialized medical care is a feat; incidentally, public mental health institutions are absolutely abandoned by the State, which is why many patients have been abandoned to their fate in towns and cities of the country. It's a very sad story. I hope that many colleagues will join this initiative. A big hug.
¡Me encanta esta iniciativa! Es sumamente importante llamar la atención de las personas en general sobre las enfermedades mentales. Nadie está exento de sufrir algún transtorno mental, y aunque esto sea una verdad lapidaria, por lo general hay mucho prejuicio, ignorancia, incomprensión y mala actitud a quienes padecen algún problema de esta naturaleza. Actualmente, con la crisis del Covid19 los factores estresantes y desencadenantes de enfermedades mentales se incrementan, y si no se tiene una red de relaciones sociales y familiares, que den soporte al enfermo, se agudizan estas patologías. En el caso de mi país, Venezuela, es una historia aún peor, una tragedia, porque aquí no hay forma de conseguir los psicotrópicos y poder acceder a una atención médica especializada es una proeza; de paso, las instituciones públicas de salud mental están absolutamente abandonadas por el Estado, razón por la cual, muchos enfermos han sido dejados a su suerte en localidades y ciudades del país. Es una historia muy triste. Espero que muchos compañeros se sumen a esta iniciativa. Un gran abrazo.
Thanks so much for your support, and looking forward to reading your #mentalhealthawareness post!
!ENGAGE 25
ENGAGEtokens.Mental health refers to a concept, where there would be diseases in the head, which require pills. I use the term mental well-being, which allows one to develop the emotional intelligence instead of medical lobotomy.
So the causes instead of symptoms, personally was "depressed" the whole youth, until met some people and read the scientific studies, which helped in getting rid of irrational fears, the media is pushing upon everyone.
I see it more like an inner compass showing, that something needs to change fundamentally, too many just take the "easy way out" as mind-numbing pharmaceuticals. So perhaps the whole concept is upside-down, one cannot be sane to be fully adjusted to a profoundly sick society!
!ENGAGE 25
We would love you to write about this in a post. Mental well being is a great description.
ENGAGEtokens.Excellent initiative, I think I can contribute with a topic on the role of plant species in mental health.
It will be interesting to read you.
!ENGAGE 25
ENGAGEtokens.That's the most beautiful badge I've seen...there are a lot of deeply emotions and meaning inside of it. Mental health is something that we have to care and be aware, I know exactly what it feels! I've been there!💚💚💚
We look forward to your contributions. It's great to read about who has been through it and how they got through it.
!ENGAGE 25
Thank you 😊 . Greetings!
ENGAGEtokens.The best initiative I have seen in HIVE. Especially in this complicated year, this kind of motivation is important to help mental health, we all need this. <3
Edit: The badge is beautiful!
Una iniciativa interesante y necesaria. Espero muchos se animen a participar.
¿La insignia? Realmente hermosa y soy de los primeros en presumir de ella. 😎
!ENGAGE 25
ENGAGEtokens.A wonderful way to make mental health visible and also to promote information and support.♥♥
!ENGAGE 25 Thanks, @danielapevs - we are sure you are a candidate for the badge, given your work on mental health on the platform!
ENGAGEtokens.Although there were many plans, we could not be as active as we wanted. But this badge is a magnificent achievement and I know that it will motivate those who constantly contribute on this subject much more and encourage others to do so.
Thank you for making this badge a reality. And also for being one of the first to get it. A real honor. Thank you again.
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STOPLove this initiative, will defo join this one! It's good to raise more awareness, great job!
Thanks - we think so too! And it's not just for the month, it's any time! Looking forward to your #mentalhealthawareness post!
It's good to raise awareness, especially during these times! I will probably write one today :)
Thanks @pavanjr - the Nat Med folk were unanimous in deciding on this design and it was great to see the @hivebuzz designer whip it up so perfectly!
Thanks for the tweet - let's get this out there!
Thank you @riverflows. It was a pleasure to work with you. 👍
This is a good initiative and I want to join this.
What a great initiative. So far I didn´t touch this topic in my blog yet but who knows. I will think about it.
The discord link is invalid or expired.
It great being engage with such post..have learnt alot..thank you..
Excellent initiative!
Happiness is a good medicine,Nature can give us good medicine.Whether it's herbs or a good atmosphere can be medicine as well.
Hi, I'm new on HIVE, and I have been diagnosed with a major depressive disorder. I just tried clicking on your Discord server invite link above, but it was invalid now. Then I tried going to your font-end at www.naturalmedicine.io, but that no longer seems to exist either. Is this community still active on the HIVE blockchain?
I don't use it a lot or it stung and I discovered a lot of things here blog, people, communities it's very important to know that there is a community to talk about difficult subjects like depression heavy feelings that many people have difficulty talking about I just wanted to say that if anyone is going through any bad problem you can talk to me I'm here and I can help you in any way! ^^
Is this "Mental Health" initiative still activ? Who´s in charge? @hivebuzz ? @acidyo ? @naturalmedicine ? Would be nice to get the badge for my post.
https://ecency.com/hive-120078/@mafufuma/brainstorm-my-life-with-epilepsy
@naturalmedicine is the account in charge. We do not manage it.
Is this initiative still running? I came from HiveBuzz badges, and didn't think this announcement post will be 3 years old.
Hi, I hope things at home are improving, it was in this post that I had to leave my badge request, sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your management. @riverflows 🥲
I'm not doing the badges anymore. It was part of natural medicine and that was affecting my mental health so much I had to let it go. I'd always hoped someone would take it over but the badges also cost Hive as well.
I'm sorry to read that, and I guess it's gone @naturalmedicine
Thanks for responding at least I gave it a try.
Greetings, I hope you are very well, for some time I have requested to obtain a badge that was not granted to me at the time.
I made this publication and followed the steps.
https://hive.blog/hive-123046/@soyunasantacruz/ecotrain-question-of-the-week-24-bipolarity-as-a-mental-illness
If it is within your reach, I thank you very much for your efforts.
@sirenahippie, @drrune 🙏
I dint know about this badge, and i been part of the mental health team of #freecompliments for a while helping people (and myself) of mental health issues as depresion or anxiety.
Lets post and talk about this ✅✅✅