TheSite.org provides information and advice in an assortment of ways on a wide range of topics (health, sex, drugs, relationships, etc). You can see tabs for these different areas at the very top of this page.
You can:
- Read facts and advice in articles, listen to them in audio recordings and watch them on video. All of this content is edited by TheSite.org's editorial team.
- Get a personal answer to a question from an advisor on askTheSite.
- Talk to others via our existing message boards and in live chat sessions.
But simply having information and advice by itself isn’t always enough to be able to take the steps needed to resolve a problem.
For example, TheSite.org’s Understanding Depression article says:
If you are feeling depressed, the best thing to do is contact your GP. Remember that even if you are feeling hopeless at the moment, depression is a treatable illness, and the bad feelings will not stay with you forever.
Our conversations with people using TheSite.org or volunteering with us, have revealed some of the barriers that people face when considering different steps to resolve a problem.
Based on the GP scenario, here are some examples of these conversations.
An excerpt from a live chat session:
Person 1:I've just recently been VERY depressed and I just really have no motivation.
Person 2: Have you thought about talking to a GP
Person 1: Ha, my GP, I'm not the "open" type. My GP will just say something like "Oh that’s really tough for you have some anti-depressants.
Person 2: Have you thought about talking to a GP
Person 1: Ha, my GP, I'm not the "open" type. My GP will just say something like "Oh that’s really tough for you have some anti-depressants.
Here’s an excerpt from one of the discussions about accessing health services and support:
Discussion starter:
Have any of you guys got experience of going to the GP with a mental health problem, or maybe more importantly... not going? If you were in that position, can you think of any barriers that would stop you from making the appointment and prevent you from then going along?
The issue I have with my GP is that I have too many. Every time I book an appointment I always keep getting seen by a different doctors each time I visit. So I end up feeling that they can’t really help me because I could end up getting different advice and prescriptions each time. Not too mention I have to re-explain my problem all over again to a different doctor. That is annoying and confusing.
For me, seeing a GP is a last resort really. I would much rather talk to my parents or friends first, and see what they think. So I would find it even more uneasy if I had to go alone about a mental health issue. I'd be tempted to find a different way of getting help.
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