It's OK To Say If You Don't Feel OK
Donation protected
Hello,
My name is Mark Pacitti and I run a free website called Dancing With The Black Dog where I tell the evolving story of how I beat anxiety and depression – my long, slow dance with the black dog. I started my site in September 2011, and I’ve since had newspaper, magazine and radio exposure for my story as wide afield as Australia, Hong Kong, UK, USA and Canada.
I've also started up an initiative called It's OK To Say If You Don't Feel OK , which is about something we can all do - whether we suffer from a mental illness or not – to share that very message with the world. It is this initiative I am seeking your help to fund.
How It All Began
As you may know, the black dog is a widely-used euphemism for depression. Recently, I had my own black dog logo printed on a case just for my own iPhone, but after interest from friends as well as followers of my Facebook page , I decided to make them widely available. I also figured that the one thing we take with us practically everywhere, the thing we start conversations with, is our mobile phone. Furthermore, there is no internationally recognised symbol for mental health awareness, such as the pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness.
Why Is This Important?
More and more people nowadays are starting to take appropriate action against their own mental illness by seeking professional help. However, I firmly believe we still live in a generation where we need to focus as much on getting people talking about their struggles with mental illness as we do on providing mental health services, since an open conversation in a safe environment is often the first step in seeking help.
We still have a lot of hard work to do to eradicate the stigma of anxiety and depression. It is therefore one of my greatest hopes, as a result of actions we can all take today, that our children and our children’s children can all grow up in a world where it feels okay to say if you don’t feel okay.
And while cures for cancer or mental illness are not entirely within our control, the eradication of the stigma of mental illness is 100% within our control. We just need to get more and more people talking about it, more and more people making a statement that it's okay to say if you don't feel okay.
I’m not doing this with the intention of making money. In fact I will not and do not want to make a single cent from any sales of my cases – because I am doing this with the intention of starting conversations. To explain further, you can only buy my cases direct from the manufacturers as outlined on my page It's OK To Say If You Don't Feel OK and I will receive zero margin from any sales.
How You Can Help
I have deliberately chosen not to make any profit on the sale of my phone cases to keep them as widely available as possible, and at as low a cost as possible. However I also need to raise funds to run online advertising campaigns to raise awareness of my cause.
I cannot do this without funding, so if you can spare a few dollars and help become part of the start of something important, please join me in eradicating the stigma of mental illness, and telling the world that you too say it’s okay to say if you don’t feel okay.
In closing, my overall aims in starting this initiative and in telling my story are to offer other anxiety and depression sufferers hope of a better way of living, a better way of thinking. Because back in 2010, after years of struggling with ever-increasing levels of anxiety and depression, and leading what looked like a normal life on the outside, I reached breaking point. But I fought back. I sought professional help. I took the fight to my own inner demons – and I won.
But I'd never have won if I never spoke up.
Every dollar, euro and pound I raise will go towards helping others speak up in the same way I once did.
Thank you for your support,
Mark Pacitti
My name is Mark Pacitti and I run a free website called Dancing With The Black Dog where I tell the evolving story of how I beat anxiety and depression – my long, slow dance with the black dog. I started my site in September 2011, and I’ve since had newspaper, magazine and radio exposure for my story as wide afield as Australia, Hong Kong, UK, USA and Canada.
I've also started up an initiative called It's OK To Say If You Don't Feel OK , which is about something we can all do - whether we suffer from a mental illness or not – to share that very message with the world. It is this initiative I am seeking your help to fund.
How It All Began
As you may know, the black dog is a widely-used euphemism for depression. Recently, I had my own black dog logo printed on a case just for my own iPhone, but after interest from friends as well as followers of my Facebook page , I decided to make them widely available. I also figured that the one thing we take with us practically everywhere, the thing we start conversations with, is our mobile phone. Furthermore, there is no internationally recognised symbol for mental health awareness, such as the pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness.
Why Is This Important?
More and more people nowadays are starting to take appropriate action against their own mental illness by seeking professional help. However, I firmly believe we still live in a generation where we need to focus as much on getting people talking about their struggles with mental illness as we do on providing mental health services, since an open conversation in a safe environment is often the first step in seeking help.
We still have a lot of hard work to do to eradicate the stigma of anxiety and depression. It is therefore one of my greatest hopes, as a result of actions we can all take today, that our children and our children’s children can all grow up in a world where it feels okay to say if you don’t feel okay.
And while cures for cancer or mental illness are not entirely within our control, the eradication of the stigma of mental illness is 100% within our control. We just need to get more and more people talking about it, more and more people making a statement that it's okay to say if you don't feel okay.
I’m not doing this with the intention of making money. In fact I will not and do not want to make a single cent from any sales of my cases – because I am doing this with the intention of starting conversations. To explain further, you can only buy my cases direct from the manufacturers as outlined on my page It's OK To Say If You Don't Feel OK and I will receive zero margin from any sales.
How You Can Help
I have deliberately chosen not to make any profit on the sale of my phone cases to keep them as widely available as possible, and at as low a cost as possible. However I also need to raise funds to run online advertising campaigns to raise awareness of my cause.
I cannot do this without funding, so if you can spare a few dollars and help become part of the start of something important, please join me in eradicating the stigma of mental illness, and telling the world that you too say it’s okay to say if you don’t feel okay.
In closing, my overall aims in starting this initiative and in telling my story are to offer other anxiety and depression sufferers hope of a better way of living, a better way of thinking. Because back in 2010, after years of struggling with ever-increasing levels of anxiety and depression, and leading what looked like a normal life on the outside, I reached breaking point. But I fought back. I sought professional help. I took the fight to my own inner demons – and I won.
But I'd never have won if I never spoke up.
Every dollar, euro and pound I raise will go towards helping others speak up in the same way I once did.
Thank you for your support,
Mark Pacitti
Organizer
Mark Pacitti
Organizer
Black Rock VIC
