What do people want?

On October 12th 2016, The Red Door™ put up an informal question and answer sort of survey for World Mental Health Day. Our online was in collaborative efforts with The Loud Whispers Project.

Three simple questions were asked:

1. If you had the choice to choose a word for your condition/experience, what would that word be?
2. If you were given the choice to choose what makes you happy everyday, what would that be? ( ex: painting, singing, dreaming, doing nothing, watching tv, walking, reading, meditating, a flexible career to do the previous ones, etc)
3. What can others do for you that would make you happy and not ‘mentally’ strained or distressed?

The reasons behind asking these questions were simple. We wanted to highlight the FACT that every human person HAS the ABILITY to make their own CHOICES and DECISIONS when we GIVE them the CHOICE and not undermine their capacity of making it. Remember, we are pro-CRPD. And many professionals around world have undermined choices of persons with mental illness stating that we are individuals who do not and cannot be given choices since we don’t have the mental capacity of choosing it.

However, the replies below will confirm our believes and inspiration behind our work. That CHOICES need to be simply be a given, and not something anyone needs to fight for.

Image source: http://quotesgram.com/power-of-choice-quotes/

 

The replies have been copy pasted directly from our Facebook Page. Scroll to our October 12th post and you’ll be able to see that these came from people who exist and not something we made up.

If you wish to add your comment to it, feel free to do so. Rather leave a comment on our blog post as this would be easier for us to archive.

I. Sayali Omkar Soman:

1. life
2.having a pet
3.freedom and ability to have one.

II. Prateek Joshi:

1. Curves
2. Writing
3. Creative exploration of illness and health in general

III. Vedika Aum:

1. Alienation
2. Living in nature and creating
3. Acceptance and to take responsibility for their actions/decisions

 

IV. Nibu Augustine:

1. Victim (no…i am not suffering from “victim syndrome” ..this is some real hardcore victimisation and abuse…this has crossed abnormal levels of it)

2. Love (to love and be loved)
3. Just be a friend.

V. Dalip Daswani .
1. alienation
2. being connected ( could be with anything – people, art, work, etc.)
3. Keep “in touch”

VI. Jhilmil Breckenridge:

1 – betrayal

2 – singing.
3 – accept

VII. Prachi Chawla:

1.Stuck and alone
2.Connecting with people, free flow of vibes and heartily laughs.
3.Acceptance and love

VIII. Meghna Gulati:

1. Struggle
2. Learn
3. Be there, in silence.

IX. Manisha Shastri:

1.Existential Melancholia
2. A flexible life which lets m pursue my professional ambitions and lets me follow my passion
3. Empathy, attention and love

X. Harkiran Sandhu: 1. Love
2. Singing and reading
3. Love and understanding

XI. Shikha Soni:

1.) Ambivalence

2.) painting & meditating

3.) give me space to develop insight

XII. Yatish Vt

1. Cheesy but “comfortably numb”

2. Travel the world, wipe out borders or start afresh, right from the beginning of time!
3. Leave me alone, until they can bring something new to my table, or unless I am lonely!

XIII. Shubrata Shastry:

1. Happy
2. Traveling, reading and listening to music
3. Acceptance

XIV. Bhavini Soorma:

1. Content
2. Traveling
3. Do not expect me to change. Accept me as I am.

XV. Anjali Joshi:

1-Alienated
2-Walking, good conversations and dancing,street dogs
3-Stop labelling me as vulnerable all the time and try to “save” me.

XVI. Jennifer Fatogun:

1. Exhausting
2. Travel.
3. Understand. Or at least try to understand. Listen. Not try to gaslight me.

XVII. Mahi Chopra:

1. Detached
2. Genuiness
3. Honesty

XVIII. Sneha Rooh:

1.Chained

2.writing

3.dont ask me too many questions,dont probe into my space.you are not entitled to answers about my life

XIX. Chavi Sethi:

1.Anxious
2.Reading
3.Coffee and enriching conversations

XX. Tusharika Bansal:

1.) Rocky road

2.) Reading

3.) Space

XXI. Rikita Narula:

1.Emotional pain
2.Conversations and talking about mental health and illness
3.I’d be happy if there was more space in life for conversations in which people can share themselves without inhibitions.

XXII. Elise Pentz:

1. death

2. singing
3. leave me alone unless you understand

XXIII. Hari Krishnan:

1) Float
2) Travel
3) Understand

XXIV. Vidyashree Rai Chhetry :

1) Inexplicable
2) Dance
3) Write

XXV. The Red Door team member:

1) Skeptical
2) Dance
3) Silence

XXVI. Elise Pentz:

1 despair
2 singing
3 act normal, no special treatment

XXVII. Abhimanyu Bishnu:

1) Fatigue

2) A bit of each

3) Quid pro quo

XXVIII. Rajiv Rajan:

1 social barriers

2 flexible life

3 accept differences

So, what do you think? Do these comments on choices not speak for itself?

Mail Me An Angel

The holidays are closing in soon for Christmas, New Years & end of the year which can be very difficult for many as they often lead lone lives. Anxiety, depression and suicidal tendencies tend to spring up especially if the individual feels alone.

But what if you could change that for someone? What if you could be an angel just for a day in delivering a simple message that would last a lifetime?

Remember those moments when you sat through a pile of handwritten letters, cards, notes and felt wonderful just for having them? Reading it does something to you. It gives you something to wake up to. And there is something magical when you are shopping for the right card with the right message, spending your time thinking about the right colour, right pen, and making stupid mistakes while writing your message down. These impressions last a lifetime for the giver and the receiver. You also need to get to the post office, stand in queue and send it. In this fast life of ours and instant wishes over social media, all of us think we are important people with time that cannot be wasted and thus we forget about these small acts of an angel.

SO, our event is simple:
1. Buy a card, write a letter, or make a card yourself.
2. Mail it to someone you know (family, friend, colleague) OR give it to a stranger.
3. Before sending it, take a picture of your card or letter and share it on your social media account. Tag The Red Door™ and don’t forget to use appropriate hashtags ( #mentalhealth #angel #thereddoor )

Our social media IDs are:
a. Instagram: thereddoor_project
b. Twitter: MindArcs
c. Facebook Page: TRDPMindArcs

Get started & tweet, facebook or instagram your entries to us!
Peace & Colour!