Thanks for all your comments. This blog is still in its beta stage. We'll see if it stands the test of time. The “experts” say that a blog should be updated at least one a week to be good. I'm not sure if that will happen. I'll do my best to post regularly. God knows the staff have enough to do already!

Here is a technical tip for everyone who writes long emails or posts of any kind. Write it out BEFORE you log in to your email or post system! Use any text editor you want (Wordperfect, Notepad,MS Word, Wordpad). Then select your text and copy it. Login to your email or post system & paste it in.

What happens is that most login systems have a timer built in. If you have a long letter to write & don't click on anything for awhile, the system will log you out automatically & you will lose all your work. The auto logout is for your own security, in case you forgot to manually logout before leaving the computer.

This just happened to me! I wrote a bunch of stuff & when I tried to post, the system (blog) told me that I had timed out & had to re-login. The result? I lost all of my previous work !@$#%!!!. Live and learn.

Check out the related link below about blog basics.

Have a great day!

This is in response to Sonja's Happy 2007 blog.

Ultimately, what we want from this organization is to build community for people who have been through the mental health experience. A place where we all belong and we can feel free to bring to it and take away from it the things that we need to create for ourselves a life we feel is meaningful.

http://www.psychiatricsurvivors.org/web ... 112-184249

I think everyone needs community. Unless you are a hermit living on a mountain. Going to a coffee shop regularly could be considered a rudimentary type of community. People need to be around people with similar interests and/or experiences.

That is why some people who are discharged from hospital feel lost. It was a place, maybe for the first time, that they felt accepted. For some, suffering from mental illness has resulted in extreme isolation.

Hence the benefit and need for groups like PSO. It's better than hanging around the ROH...

It's been 7 years since I've had a medication change. I thought I was through with them. The Zoloft that I've been taking, however, does not seem to be doing the trick anymore. No...I don't think as meds as a fix all. Far from it. In my case medication is a small part of my recovery. It is an important one however. It has given me the extra push to try new things and gain confidence in my own abilities.

As my doctor said, sometimes a med will stop working for a person. Maybe my body has grown accustomed to it. Whatever the reason, feeling like your withdrawing from a medication is not a nice feeling.

So my next adventure is Cipralex. The list of possible horrible side effects is no longer than Zoloft. We will see how it goes.

Well it finally came. Cold! What were the odds that we could have an entire winter with almost no snow and mild temperatures? Not very high. Not that I'm complaining. It's even supposed to get milder tomorrow. The wiener dog will appreciate that on her walks.

Werner, our webmeister, has set up a blog for the staff of PSO under the endearing belief that anyone cares what we think. In honour of that optimistic view I’ll write a bit about PSO and what we think we’re doing here (at least in my opinion).

What is PSO anyway? The words “psychiatric survivors” make some people very nervous. I’m sure some folks think we counsel people to throw out their meds and kill their psychiatrists. Fascinating, but illogical, as Spock would say. We’d settle for people having the support, knowledge and resources available to them to make the choices they deem to be healthy, whether that includes a lifetime supply of Olanzapine or a case of Omega-3 oil and a yoga teacher.

We’re trying to provide an environment where people can feel free to discuss and work on their recovery in the manner that makes sense to them. Of course, we can’t be all things to all people so we try to focus on providing a space and events so people can socialize, as well as dedicated peer support time. We try to find avenues for creative expression whenever possible, train people to support others through the Wellness Project and just generally be a place where people can find hope and inspiration from others when they’re feeling like crap. Sometimes it even works.

We also are involved with advocacy and mental health planning because we believe it’s hard to recover when faced with poverty, homelessness (or even the threat of), coercion or limited choices.

Ultimately, what we want from this organization is to build community for people who have been through the mental health experience. A place where we all belong and we can feel free to bring to it and take away from it the things that we need to create for ourselves a life we feel is meaningful.