espressologicSenior Contributor
Goodbye Topic Tuesday, hello Mental Health Recovery Webinars
As we approach the tenth anniversary of the SANE Forums this year, it’s time to say goodbye to one of our long-running monthly events, Topic Tuesday.
For each event, a different topic and guest was chosen and a guided Q&A-style discussion held in a dedicated forum thread, where forum members could join in and share their experiences in a recovery-oriented discussion.
Topics were chosen based on a mixture of awareness days, collaboration opportunities with SANE’s partner organisations in the mental health sector, and emerging themes from other forums discussions.
After a thorough review of participation over the past year, it has become clear that despite our best efforts, Topic Tuesday in its current form was no longer resonating with members. Attendance was consistently low, with less than 1% of active forum members engaging in these events.
Therefore, we’ve taken the decision to retire Topic Tuesday and try something new.
Recent consultations with forum members through our co-design hub have indicated that there is a desire for us to introduce more interactive and structured learning opportunities that support mental health recovery, education and skill-building, navigating the mental health system, social connection, and peer-to-peer support.
We’re keen to try this out under the theme of Mental Health Recovery Webinars.
These will be held in an evening timeslot (7pm AEST) using the Zoom platform and will consist of a presentation and/or panel discussion on a mental health recovery topic, followed by time for participants to ask questions in the chat. Once the webinar is finished, the recording will be available on the forums in a dedicated thread so discussion on that topic can continue.
In this thread, we’d like to hear:
- Any feedback and questions on this idea
- Topic suggestions for the webinars
To help get you thinking, we’ve analysed the content of forum posts made in March and identified three potential topic areas:
- Navigating mental health services and self-advocacy with providers
- Coping with grief and loss
- Maintaining routines in managing mental health
We look forward to hearing from you.
