How could our pages be better?

Posted Friday 18 November 2011

We're here to make sure anyone with a mental health problem has somewhere to turn for information and support, both in "real life" and increasingly, online.

The information pages on our site provide the backbone of this online and we've worked hard to make sure they're good quality (we've got the information standard quality mark) and are written and reviewed by people living with mental health problems.

Up to now, we've designed them for print: for you to pick up a booklet or leaflet and read it from start to finish in what is often know as an E-Z or Z pattern.

What we haven't done is designed our information for you to read online, in chunks, when you need it.

We know that more and more people turn to the internet for health information, more people are seeking help for mental health problems and from your feedback we also know that our information can be hard to find.

The information on our website could be so much better - it could include video, audio, your stories and be interactive.

It could be written to more closely match the F pattern (the way people scan the written word online) and be broken down into smaller chunks.

We've got lots of ideas.

But we want to hear from you what you need and what you think. So please, let us know what you think in the comments below, take our quick survey.

Taryn Ozorio & Beth Murphy, , Digital Manager & Information Manager

<  Return to mind blog

3 Comments

• mindreader replied on 18 Nov 2011 at 13:36

  The self-harm leaflet contains info on the endorphin hypothesis which has not been proven, it's one of those myths like psychosis and 'chemical imbalance' which has become fact. If you contact me I can email you a published paper on this issue written by survivors with a psychiatrist.
  Many people do feel the pain of their self-harm.

  I'd like to see a leaflet dealing with Jobcentres and being forced into unpaid work, many vulnerable people are being thrown into JSA and don't know what to do.

• Beth replied on 21 Nov 2011 at 09:30

  Dear Mindreader

  thanks for your comments. We will be revising our self-harm booklet in the coming months and in line with our editorial policy the author will be asked to consider your feedback when they write the new version.

  If you can email me directly (b.murphy@mind.org.uk) with more information about what you would like to see from a booklet about jobcentres and JSA I can discuss with colleagues at out product development group.

  Thanks
  Beth

• Sewer Rat replied on 21 Nov 2011 at 09:30

  Agreed, some useful up-to-date information on dealing with and surviving the benefit system would be good: how to ensure not to get stuck in that place where one is "not ill enough" for ESA but too unwell for JSA/work; how to not be forced back to work before you're ready; how to manage to do whatever work paid/unpaid as much as possible but safely without losing all sources of income and ending up with nothing to live on and getting more unwell in the process; how to find support to look for appropriate work paid/unpaid (not just the local supermarket) and retain that support for as long as it is needed; how to deal with Brown Envelope Anxiety.