Hi, folks. With this post, I am going to ask you a favor. I would really like some feedback from you, particularly from any one of you who has read more than a couple of my posts here.
Next week, after I get back from a convention I am going to, I will be speaking in front of a large group of local police officers as part of NAMI and the Crisis Intervention Training program here in my county. I have never done much public speaking, and have never done any that involved talking about my mental illness, so it's safe to say that I am sufficiently nervous! I look forward to doing this speaking, because by educating police officers about mental illness I can help others and make some small difference in the world.
So, here is where you all come in! I need some input on what I should point out with my twenty minutes of speaking. I have written down what I plan on saying, but I am making adjustments to it, because some of what I wrote was superfluous and I only have twenty minutes to say everything I want to say. The first time I practiced this, I took 45 minutes to read everything I wrote. After that, I got it down to twenty minutes, but I want to fine tune it a bit, and make sure I'm not leaving out anything important.
If you were me, what would be the main things you would like people to know about mental illness and your experiences with it? What would be the points that you would definitely focus on, or emphasize the most?
And if you have read much here, I would appreciate your response about what I could say that might have the most impact as far as getting people to understand mental illness.
Thank you so much in advance for any advice you can offer. Also, thank you to everyone who has ever left comments here. I read them and appreciate them all a great deal.
Next week, after I get back from a convention I am going to, I will be speaking in front of a large group of local police officers as part of NAMI and the Crisis Intervention Training program here in my county. I have never done much public speaking, and have never done any that involved talking about my mental illness, so it's safe to say that I am sufficiently nervous! I look forward to doing this speaking, because by educating police officers about mental illness I can help others and make some small difference in the world.
So, here is where you all come in! I need some input on what I should point out with my twenty minutes of speaking. I have written down what I plan on saying, but I am making adjustments to it, because some of what I wrote was superfluous and I only have twenty minutes to say everything I want to say. The first time I practiced this, I took 45 minutes to read everything I wrote. After that, I got it down to twenty minutes, but I want to fine tune it a bit, and make sure I'm not leaving out anything important.
If you were me, what would be the main things you would like people to know about mental illness and your experiences with it? What would be the points that you would definitely focus on, or emphasize the most?
And if you have read much here, I would appreciate your response about what I could say that might have the most impact as far as getting people to understand mental illness.
Thank you so much in advance for any advice you can offer. Also, thank you to everyone who has ever left comments here. I read them and appreciate them all a great deal.