My Advocating Projects For 2024
In 2017, I started my blog The Bipolar Battle. That was my official start to advocating for those of us with bipolar disorder. At the time, I was unaware that what I was doing was considered advocating. Not until later did I learn I was a mental-health advocate, specifically for bipolar disorder.
At the end of 2019, I won a Wego Health award, and they flew me out to Las Vegas, Nevada, where I accepted the prestigious award. From that point on, I became an “award-winning” mental health advocate.
In 2020, my brother, who is a CPA, helped turn my efforts into a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. We did this as a way to bring in donations so we could run the website and further promote awareness. Before that, everything was out of pocket for me. So, that eased some of the financial burden. Plus, now I can raise money for many amazing projects!
If you are interested in donating to our cause, you can donate on our website by clicking HERE or through our PayPal fund by clicking HERE. I never want anyone to feel pressure to donate, so only if you want to and are able to.
A few of our past projects include:
- My published book, This War Within My Mind.
- Partnership with Ketamine Wellness Center.
- Partnership with Teva pharmaceuticals, where we launched an awareness campaign about tardive dyskinesia.
I always have several projects going on at one time. Many of these are ongoing, and some are just stand-alone projects. It just depends on the time of year and who I am currently collaborating with.
Some of my current advocating projects are:
1. Website
At the end of 2023, our website crashed. Since then, I have worked on building a new website from scratch, which has been extremely tedious. I am constantly updating and redesigning the website to build an online community.
You can sign up for free to get access to the online forum, or with a donation, you can access our printable materials, including a mood chart, budget, treatment plan, crisis plan, and more.
2. Blog Posts
For most of 2023, I took a break from publishing articles on the blog. I plan to post on a more regular schedule in 2024, however, and as of right now, I’m not quite sure what that schedule will look like. Blogging is one of my favorite parts of The Bipolar Battle, and I want to continue doing so.
Do you enjoy writing? Do you want to tell your story? If you know of anyone, or you would like to write a guest post yourself, let me know. You can read our guest post guidelines HERE.
3. Content Creation for Donations
To raise money for The Bipolar Battle and to increase awareness, I plan on creating new and exciting resources.
One of the projects I’m currently working on is updating “The Bipolar Battle Masterclass.” We had to take it down when the website crashed, but those who already have access to it will be able to access it again when the masterclass goes live again. We are updating the masterclass with more content and might rename it. So stay tuned for further details.
4. Advocate on Social Media
Social media used to be a simple thing for me to keep up with – especially Twitter. I won my WEGO Health award for my advocacy on Twitter. However, I had to take a break from all social media in 2023, just like from posting new articles on the blog. In 2024, I plan to post and advocate on social media on a more regular basis. We’ll see how that goes. Again, as you probably know, posting on all your social media accounts can be time-consuming.
At the moment, I have not ironed out all the social media accounts I will post on regularly, but I always love Twitter – oops, actually it is “X” now.
5. Fundraise – For Our Retreat and Operations
In the future, one of my goals is to build an actual retreat for those of us with bipolar disorder and our loved ones. That takes money and donations, so I plan to raise funds through donations and other grants.
If you know anyone who would like to sponsor us and our cause, please reach out to me at john@thebipolarbattle.org
In addition, if you know someone who is an architect and would like to volunteer their time to help me develop the rendering of the future retreat, please steer them in my direction. I can’t do this without your support. Again, though, I don’t want to create any pressure for you to have to do anything.
We are looking for a volunteer to fill another role as a set creator. Here, I am talking about the individual who designs sets for movies. We need their expertise in creating our future retreat. It will not be a normal retreat, but an alternative holistic one.
These advocating projects take lots of time and resources. If you are interested in any of these projects and would like to volunteer your time, please reach out to me at john@thebipolarbattle.org or (970) 829-1907.
If you are interested in collaborating with us in any other way, please reach out.
If you would like to sponsor The Bipolar Battle, we provide advertising space on our website and The Bipolar Battle podcast. We can discuss your needs and what you are looking for.
6. Continue Building Our Community
I’m interested to hear what projects you are working on in your life. Please comment in the section below about not only your projects but anything related to bipolar disorder.
Our mission is to empower those living with bipolar. The comments section provides a space for us to interact and get to know one another. Knowing you are not alone can be empowering in and of itself.
One last subject I’d like to touch on. I mentioned building The Bipolar Battle community. The comments section of each blog post is a space to do that. We also have an online forum where you can post whatever you want. This new website unfortunately does not have the comments in the forum from the website that crashed, but this gives us a chance to start fresh and try out a new forum. By signing up for a free account at The Bronze Level, you can immediately access The Bipolar Battle forum.
