help!

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A Consumer's Guide to Mental Health Information

Internet Mental Health Resources
selected by a
Consumer/ Survivor of the Mental Health System
in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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This document went online on May 12, 1995
Last Changed: May 28, 1997

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Introduction

This web page first went online in May of 1995. At that time, there was very little information on the World Wide Web from the point of view of people who had been within the mental health system (people often called consumer/survivors, ex-psychiatric patients, or crazy folks.)

Since then, both the Internet and the web have exploded in growth. There are now thousands of mental health-related websites, mailing lists, newsgroups and other resources online. Keeping track of the daily changes in mental health on the Internet has become a full time job, beyond the ability of any one volunteer working on a web page in his spare time.

The original goal of help! was to make it easy for everyone to find high-quality information about mental health online; to provide a list of good places on the net where anyone could reach for comfort for their own mental health problems, or try to understand the mental health issues of their family members and friends.

Now, I want to change that goal slightly. My own experiences with madness and the mental health system, have taught me that the best comfort and understanding usually comes from those who have learned to live with their own madness. In future, this page will concentrate on providing links to the growing number of consumer/ survivor organizations and individual c/s online, both locally in Toronto and around the world.

So: until I can make the time to change and fully update all the links on help! I suggest you browse the web pages of MADNESS, the international c/s email list, and the web page of the C/S Info Centre of Toronto. Both web sites provide links to some of the millions of people who have been within the systems of mental health, all over the world.

May you soon find your own best path, your own answers, and peace.
Be well,
-Patrick (madmagic)

help! Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Keeping Your Sense of Humour
• Suicide Information
• Mailing Lists and Related Information
• World Wide Web sites
• A Disordered Hotlist of Other Mental Health Information
• Search the Web and Internet for More Information
• Usenet Newsgroups, FAQs and Related Information
  • alt.angst
  • alt.recovery
  • alt.support.depression
  • alt.support.depression.manic
  • alt.support.grief
  • alt.sex
  • sci.psychology
• About This Document

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Keeping Your Sense of Humour

• Jack Handy's Deep Thought of the Day

• The Dilbert Zone (comic strip) The Dilbert archive contains several weeks of one of the world's most popular cartoons.

• the ONION, Number One In News A satirical parody of online newspapers.

• Red Meat (comic strip) Red Meat is a dark and often very twisted comic strip.

• The Complete Bastard Operator From Hell Very well-written, very accurate and very, very funny short stories, from the viewpoint of an unprincipled computer network administrator. The BOFH series is a true classic of Internet humour (clickety-click).

• This Is True Collected true news stories that didn't get media coverage.

• Read the Usenet newsgroup rec.humor.funny

• FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about rec.humor.funny [Hypertext version at Ohio State]

• The Digests of the Usenet Oracle

• FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about rec.humor.oracle (Introduction to the Usenet Oracle) [Ohio]

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suicide

• The Samaritans: A UK Suicide Helpline on the Internet (or see the U.S. mirror site at Mental Health Net)

• FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about Suicide [Ohio]

• Internet & International Crisis Resources and Information [Ohio]

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Mailing Lists and Related Information

• Madness (formerly This Is Crazy) is an electronic action and information discussion list for people who experience moods swings, fright, voices, and visions (People Who).

• The Consumer/Survivor Information Resource Centre of Toronto
  The C/S Info Centre has a web page, an ftp site, and an email discussion list which circulates copies of a biweekly c/s newsletter, The Bulletin.

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World Wide Web sites

• The Consumer/Survivor Information Resource Centre of Toronto
  The C/S Info Centre has a web page, an ftp site, and an email discussion list which circulates copies of a biweekly c/s newsletter, The Bulletin.

• Dr. John Grohol's Mental Health Page One of the best overviews of mental health information available on the Internet. Contains links to most newsgroups, email support lists, and web sites related to mental health.

• The Mood Disorders Server in Helsinki, Finland

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A Disordered Hotlist of Other Mental Health Information

• The World Health Organization's Health-related Web Sites
• Healthnet's Current Medical and Health Resources, Canada
• Canadian Psychological Association
• Addiction Research Foundation Bibliographies
  Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Canadian Mental Health Association (Toronto)
  Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Community Health Centre Project, Edmonton/St. Hubert, Alberta
• National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (USA)
• Mental Health Resources on MedWeb at Emory University, USA
• Links to Medical and Mental Health Help, Texas, USA
• Internet Psychology Resources at the Well, California, USA
• Women's Internet Health Resources (includes mental health) at the U of Michigan, USA
• Emotional Support Guide
• The Cornucopia of Disability Information
• Web of Addictions
• Health Sites on Compuserve, Prodigy and BBS Systems
• General Psychology Information at Einet
• Strategies To Secure And Maintain Employment For People With Long-Term Mental Health Disabilities
• Background Materials; Reducing Risks for Mental Disorders
• Psychology Web (largely academic)
• Psychology Search (largely academic)
• WWW Virtual Library: Biosciences, Harvard University, USA
• Psychology Gopher Resource List
• Psychiatry Online, UK
• Mental Health & Society
  An artwork located at Xerox PARC in California, USA
  Warning: contains large graphic files; a good net connection and a fast modem (or patience) are required

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Search the Web and Internet for More Information

• The Yahoo Index
  One of the largest searchable guides to information on the Internet, located in California, USA

• Browse the current listing of Mental Health Resources on Yahoo

• Where to Announce Your Web Pages

• CUI's Searchable W3 Catalog

• The O'Reilly Global Network Navigator

• WebCrawler

• The WWW Virtual Library

• FAQ: Wide Area Information Search [Ohio]

• Veronica (Global Gopher Menu Searches)

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Usenet Newsgroups, Mailing Lists, FAQs and Related Information

• Usenet FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions and Answers) Regularly Posted in news.answers [Ohio]
  This large collection of hypertext FAQs at Ohio State, USA is a very good guide to Internet resources, but the site is often busy. If you have access to Usenet news, you can also read the newsgroup news.answers to find the FAQs.

• Usenet FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions and Answers) Regularly Posted in news.answers [ASCII-text versions at MIT, USA]

• Usenet FAQs at UUNET in Virginia, USA
  (may not be readable on all browsers)

• Psychology/Support Newsgroups, Carleton U, Ottawa, Canada

• Psychology and Support Groups Newsgroup Pointer [MIT]

• Support Guide to Newsgroups, U of Michigan, USA

• Physical Loss Newsgroup Resource List, U of Michigan, USA

• Psychology Newsgroup List, Stanford University, California, USA

alt.angst

• Read the Usenet newsgroup alt.angst
• FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about alt.angst -- Monthly Posting [Ohio]
• The Angst Home Page at
  http://www.cs.indiana.edu/hyplan/krawling/angst.html
• Who's Not Who in alt.angst at
  http://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~therion/whos-who.html

alt.recovery

• Read the Usenet newsgroup alt.recovery
• FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about alt.recovery [Ohio]

alt.support.depression

• Read the Usenet newsgroup alt.support.depression
• FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about alt.support.depression [Ohio]
• alt.support.depression -- Book List [Ohio]
• ASCII-text version of the alt.support.depression FAQ (MIT)
  1. alt.support.depression_FAQ_Part_1[5]
  2. alt.support.depression_FAQ_Part_2[5]
  3. alt.support.depression_FAQ_Part_3[5]
  4. alt.support.depression_FAQ_Part_4[5]
  5. alt.support.depression_FAQ_Part_5[5]
• ASCII-text version of the alt.support.depression Book List (MIT)

alt.support.depression.manic

• Read the Usenet newsgroup alt.support.depression.manic

alt.sex

• FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about alt.sex [Ohio]

alt.support.grief

• Read the Usenet newsgroup alt.support.grief
• Grief and Loss Brochure
• Coping with Grief Brochure

sci.psychology

• Read the Usenet newsgroup sci.psychology
• FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about sci.psychology [Ohio]

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About This Document

help! is a general guide to Internet resources for people who need help with personal mental health problems, and for people looking for answers to their questions about mental health. help! was one of the very first World Wide Web sites by a consumer/ survivor of mental health services on the Internet, and this page is still one of the most-linked c/s web sites in the world.

help! contains selected information sources, contacts and links to a variety of individuals, groups and organizations you can access for more detailed information. The original and most up-to-date version of help! can be found on the World Wide Web server at iComm in Toronto, Canada. The home URL is http://www.icomm.ca/madmagic/help/help.html

Please send your comments and suggestions for additional information or changes to Patrick Burton (madmagic@icomm.ca) iComm Program Coordinator, founding board member and former Chairman of the C/S Info Centre Board, webminder of the MADNESS web pages, and author of help! If you would like to mirror this document, or provide links to other mental health sites, please contact me at the above email address.

As of May 1997, help! has received between 500-1500 hits per week for over two years. Please see the help! statistics pages at http://www.icomm.ca/madmagic/stats/ for more detailed information.

help! is one of two FAQ files listed on the main Yahoo Mental Health Resources page, and is linked from the Psychology Web Pointer of Dr. John Grohol's Mental Health Page, the Internet Links page of Vancouver, B.C.'s Internet Mental Health, the Top Mental Health Sites of Washington, D.C.'s Policy Information Exchange, the Mental Health Resources on the Internet page of the United States government's Department of Health and Human Services (National Mental Health Services) Knowledge Exchange Network (KEN) server, and has been listed and reviewed on Canada's Bell Sympatico General Mental Health Resources web page. There are over 100 personal, professional and academic weblinks to help! worldwide, from Japan, Hong Kong and Australia to Poland, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Austria.

Enquiries about commercial sponsership, CD-ROM and print distribution of help! are welcome and invited.

[Up to help! Table of Contents]

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The WWW Blackout

help! was black for 48 hours to protest the US Government's recent legislature against free speech on the Internet. Read about why at these WWW pages or The Center for Democracy and Technology mirror site