I said I was tired last week. I was tired. This week has brought new connections that have prompted me to feel re-energised. I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak at Ignite in the North by Imran Ali last month. I posted some of the footage from that talk here a short while ago. What I’d hoped was that might be the beginning of a dialogue between the tech world in Leeds and the mental health world in Leeds. This morning I met with Monica Tailor and we talked around a lot of ideas and methods of working - both in the mental health world and beyond. I came away enthused.

Not long ago I chatted with Paul Caplan at the MSN HQ and he suggested that there was probably no need to go banging on doors about all this ‘web 2.0 stuff’ and trying to force them - they’re already open.

And I’m reminded sometimes how much we - and by we I mean whoever you are, whether you’re a user of mental health services or a frontline worker or a chief exec or me, forget. We can at times, perhaps more times than we should, forget that by sharing what we do, and how we think and what we feel with the non mental health world, we can make a difference. Giving others an opportunity of an insight into our worlds creates a connection that can deepen and go further than it could ever go on it’s own. Doing so is a risk. And previous experience of not being heard or supported, understood or worse, can compound that risk.  The growth that comes from taking a positive risk however, is a marker of improved emotional wellbeing - whatever the scale.

Today, one of the things Monica suggested - was perhaps the idea of a guide to online services much in the same way the Quick Guide exists currently. But a vision for the mapping of online forums, support groups, facebook groups and web2.0 ‘services’. I have no idea how it would be possible to do this. But the interesting thing is that, that doesn’t matter. If there is a way - it’s likely that it will take more than one person or one sector’s thinking to work it out. And. There’s no reason why that can’t happen. Is there?