Beyond traditional healthcare: combat mental illness with online community and volunteerism

You are diagnosed with bipolar disorder and your treatment plan fails to help you navigate daily life. Ashamed to tell friends, defeat sets in. What now? Peer to Peer Health connects you to a network of volunteer mentors who have overcome similar situations, as well as others with similar struggles.

The Specifics: How will you use $2,500 to fuel social change through technology?

When we fall ill, we turn to our family and friends for support, but this method fails when people face the stigma and silence surrounding mental illnesses. Technology can create an online community that fills this systemic gap in support, while allowing anonymity if desired. Unlike the few existing online communities, Peer to Peer Health goes beyond free-for-all discussion boards by providing one-on-one coaching from mentors.

$2500 will be the seed money to build the Peer to Peer Health beta site and spread awareness to solicit volunteers. The NTEN grant lays the foundation for a sustainable, community and volunteer-driven web platform that can provide crucial support to millions of people struggling with mental illness.

Discussion

great job. But too bad can not vote because this voting site is blocked by many companies and compers due security.

by roger710

11 months ago | Reply

A great project deserves support. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that nearly half the world's population are affected by mental illness. In US depression is the leading cause of disability among age 15 to 44. Also in US there are about 30,000 death a year caused by suicide, 3rd leading cause of death for age group 15 to 24. The awareness of mental illness and support to patients are far less than to, say, breast cancer. Best wish to "PeertoPeer".

by lee619

11 months ago | Reply

I love this idea of utilizing a social web platform to create a safe and constructive space for those who most need it. Simple in its mission with the possibility to expand and make a tangible difference in healthcare - love it! Best of luck, Peer to Peer.

by emily90

11 months ago | Reply

Love it!

by greg.woodburn

11 months ago | Reply

A thoughtful good idea.

by kelly111

11 months ago | Reply

Great idea! Having a secure network of people to talk to about mental illness (and illness in general) is so important. There are no automatic channels of communication with family and friends when you receive a mental illness diagnosis and accidental insensitivity is easy. There needs to be more networks out there like this to help offset these difficulties.

by francesca.bessey

11 months ago | Reply

This is a truly wonderful idea - one that surprisingly does not yet exist in a well-executed format. Best of luck with this project regardless of the outcome of this competition.

by nlbaxter

11 months ago | Reply

Great idea, good luck with the project

by Ehuch

11 months ago | Reply

As a licensed professional counselor in private practice I love this idea - so many of my clients would benefit from peer or group support but finding groups that are open, accessible, affordable, and a good fit is extremely difficult and most often impossible. This service would be a valuable adjunct that I would recommend to my clients, and is even more necessary for the many people who because of financial, transportation, or access to good care don't have the therapy they need. Debbie Schechter, LPC

by debbies.

11 months ago | Reply

Awesome idea! Good luck!

by dfelix

11 months ago | Reply

This is awesome! I can see it making a great impact!

by cindybindy

11 months ago | Reply

Wishing you success in your endeavors. Peace!

by MrAmos

11 months ago | Reply

This is a fantastic idea- it provides an effective and specific way to fill a very significant-and often ignored- need. Best of luck!

by lauren.furniss

11 months ago | Reply

This project makes sense. People who badly need communications are deprived in the real life in this case. Hopefully "Peer to Peer" succeeds and sets up the web earlier.

by ppl909

11 months ago | Reply

This project would fill a huge gap in mental health services. As a healthcare professional I can easily see how Peer to Peer would support a currently underserved and often unappreciated patient population. You absolutely deserve this grant!

by lrosengaus

11 months ago | Reply

by lrosengaus

11 months ago | Reply

Dear everyone who has voted or somehow stumbled onto this page: thank you! We are currently a small team of passionate college students and recent grads hoping to make this idea a reality. Our website is conspicuously missing from the description because: we don’t have one. Yet. We know this puts us at a disadvantage because you don’t get a lot of information about us, but please just know we are working day and night to win this contest and make Peer to Peer Health happen.

by PeertoPeer

11 months ago | Reply

As someone who has personally struggled with mental illness for many years, I can say that this idea is absolutely worth supporting in every way possible. Whether a community is created via in-person connections or through technology, communities are essential to help people get through very real and life-altering struggles.

by eacosma

11 months ago | Reply

This is a fantastic idea. I love it and will be excited to support it.

by david.bell

11 months ago | Reply

This is a fantastic idea. I love it and will be excited to support it.

by david.bell

11 months ago | Reply

This is a fantastic idea. I love it and will be excited to support it.

by david.bell

11 months ago | Reply

Wonderful and much needed avenue for many individuals that suffer in silence. Many cannot go to their family or friends because although they may love them, they don't understand as well as someone who has had the same experience and has been able to learn ways to walk through some of the hard times. This is a wonderful and amazing way to help many, many individuals and yes, speaking to anonymous sources makes it easier, especially when dealing with a very personal reality.

by debrajeancollins

11 months ago | Reply