Update from Hangout - 4th November, 2013

Hey all,

Thanks to those who managed to make the hangout this evening, sorry if I sounded so monotone and boring. I think I'm going to work on it like Colin Firth in The King's Speech! Vocal exercises!

Anyway, for those who couldn't come, have a look at some of the things we've been talking about. As always we'd love to hear your opinions and ideas on everything - after all, MiLO is run by you!

• Firstly, a big thank you to Ollie for the lovely new forum theme. Isn't it pretty? And now it ties in perfectly with the website. I know the bright green was a bit of an eye-ache so hopefully everyone loves this one much more
  
  
• We spoke a lot about forum activity and how we could bring it up to where it used to be. We have over 200 members but not very many people posting. We've got lots of plans for forum competitions and awards. I'll go into more detail about the importance of the forum and so on further down this post...
  
  
• The 24 hour football match is really taking off! Callum may have secured us a FREE venue, although he's meeting with the owners this weekend to discuss in more detail. Remember we're still looking for all sorts of volunteers and we'll help you get up there (as Jake and I will be taking a minibus/coach from the South all the way to Glasgow).
  
  
• The 24 hour sponsored talk! Here's our image for it (it's that size so it fits nicely into our home page slider). We're still looking for volunteers for this and we'll also be getting some special guests to make an appearance throughout the 24 hours. We'll soon have the event and funding page live, so we can all start pushing it!
  
  
  
• The next meet up will be either the 12th or the 19th April (TBC) in Manchester! More details as and when we get them. 
  
  
• This Therapy Thursday we will be focusing on meditation. Please fill up that therapy and coping methods board with your thoughts/experiences/ideas with meditation and join us for a meditation hangout at 8pm on the Thursday evening. We will soon be running a forum competition/awards system which will commend those who contribute lots during therapy Thursdays and on the coping methods board.
  
  
• Staff roles - The officers will soon be taking on some important roles within our community, to ensure that everything runs smoothly. So far we have Boo for blogs and vlogs and Nicholas for the forum. We are yet to distribute the remaining roles but when we do there will be plenty of volunteering opportunities available. Each officer will be looking for volunteers to help them run their particular area and will be asking for your help! If you've got a skill or just a passion to help out then keep your eyes peeled, we will be announcing more about this very soon.
  
  
• Which reminds me, welcome to Michaela, a brand new MiLOfficer!
  
  
• Finally, back to the forum, please read this as it is VERY important. I want to explain a little bit about why the forum is so important for Minds Like Ours and the people we are trying to support:
  When you're having a bit of a down day and don't know where to turn, there are several things that many people do. One of the biggest ones is to Google the signs/symptoms/therapy methods that relate to that certain issue. You may stumble across a Yahoo Answers page, a blog, a website and many times - a forum. When you come across someone talking about the things you're going through a lot of us can instantly feel a lot better, just knowing we're not alone. You may also come across a coping or therapy method that truly helps you at the time.
  
  This is what we want the MiLO forum to be! By posting your issues, challenges, problems, coping methods, happy times, sad times, symptoms, signs, things you're unsure of, you will then be inadvertently helping a lot of other people. It's so important that we use our own stories to raise awareness, after all that's what we're all about.
  
  I know that posting on the FB pages tends to be easier most of the time, but please also consider using the forum more too. Imagine how many people you could help with your one post? And how many people can help you too! If you've posted something on the FB group then please do post it on here too, when you get 5 minutes. 
  
  We will also soon be having our very own forum tournaments, awards and prizes for those who remain active here. Think of it as incentives for helping others and helping yourself. How amazing is that?! We'll go into more detail about this once we've fine tuned everything our end.

Thank you for taking the time to read this! Don't forget to keep checking our website for news of events, fundraisers and the new blog posts going up mindslikeours.co.uk/

Lots of love,
Bex x