MySpace a place for friends

Please check out the website and consider submitting your story, your artwork, your thoughts, your advice, your random musings, or whatever you want to share with others in similar situations. It can be completely anonymous if you want. The project's in its beginning stages right now, but it has a lot of potential. Thank you for your interest!

For more information, go to http://www.stepoutofthesilence.org or e-mail me at admin@stepoutofthesilence.org

Out of the Silence was started in April 2007 as a youth-based initiative meant to aid in reducing the stigma surrounding mental illness. It is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based out of New Jersey that has gained both national and international support. It is run by Caitlin Carey, a junior at Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School in New Jersey. Caitlin has a few "guest advisors" in the mental field who are always willing to help her with the site's content.

This organization was created in response to the overwhelming lack of involvement by youth in mental health advocacy. Youth are too often deemed irresponsible and unintelligent and are rarely given the opportunity to be proactive in the mental health field. Caitlin first discovered this unfortunate situation during her 10-year battle with obsessive-compulsive disorder. While searching for peer support, she found that there were few support groups specifically for people her age in her home state. Online support groups existed, but the teen groups were nearly always offshoots of organizations meant primarily for adults.

Out of the Silence is unique in that it is targeted specifically towards middle school, high school, and college-aged youth. It is a web-based initiative designed to provide an outlet for creative expression of emotions through artwork and writing. It also fosters a sense of community that is fundamental to the success of its audience. The ultimate goal of Out of the Silence is to assist youth and young adults in learning to deal with their emotions effectively and productively.

In the future, through the support of our members, Out of the Silence will hopefully provide a community of advocates for youth with mental illness. It will encourage youth and young adults to assume a more active role in their treatment and offer information as to how they may participate through anti-stigma campaigns. The forums will also provide a place for mutual support.

While many networks are available for adults with mental illness, few resources are easily accessible for young people. These young people, due to the media and their school environments, are especially vulnerable to the negative stigma surrounding such disorders. Out of the Silence aims to ‘break the silence’ surrounding mental health issues and prove that, just as there is no shame in having a physical illness, there is no shame in suffering from and overcoming mental illness.

As the organization grows, personal submissions will be made available to the public through printed media as well as through this website. Through these personal expressions, it is our hope that our peers will gain reassurance that they are not alone.

As of Sunday, January 6, 2008 we have:
136 users
9,500 page views
31 MySpace friends
52 Facebook group members
$500 in donations (not counting the money I put towards this organization)

As of Saturday, March 1, 2008 we will have:
200 users
18,500 page views
200 MySpace friends
400 Facebook group members
$5000 in donations

Yes, these goals are very ambitious, but we can reach them. There are so many people whose lives we can touch, and we WILL reach them!

For more information, go to http://www.stepoutofthesilence.org or e-mail me at admin@stepoutofthesilence.org

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