SANE's Virtual Dog needs you!
By Charlotte Fantelli
The national mental health charity SANE has been running the 'Black Dog Campaign' as part of it's 25th anniversary celebrations. This has been a great success with Black Dog statues being erected in many towns and cities around the UK. These statues help raise awareness of mental illness and point people in the direction of help.
The next stage of the campaign has started this week (Mental Health Awareness week), as SANE announce the creation of 'Virtual Dog', a poignant representation of the importance of online community. Mental illness can be daunting and isolating and being part of an online community can really help empower people and know they are not alone.
The dawn of websites, Facebook pages, groups, Twitter, YouTube videos and forums, has brought with it easy access to information and fellow people that can bring comfort and support at times of great need. We want to be part celebrating this, so as part of our community, we are asking you to be part of the 'Virtual Dog' campaign. You can get involved in many ways and any further ideas or fundraising initiatives are always welcome.
For the creatives among you, why not help design 'Virtual Dog' a coat? Each month SANE will be giving him a new coat and it could be yours. Simply use the illustration above to get inventive, use your artistic skills to portray the many wonderful facets of online community. You can email, tweet @CharitySANE, or send SANE your designs on Facebook.
Help make 'Virtual Dog' into a real Black Dog statue. SANE are looking to raise the £5000 it costs to make this a reality. Real 'Virtual Dog' will travel schools and universities and be a strong symbol and a tool to help discuss mental health with the next generation. You can donate £3 by texting SANE to 70300. You can also donate online: http://www.sane.org.uk/how_you_can_help/donate/. The real Dog will wear the best coat chosen from his online wardrobe.
Help send the Black Dog to school - send SANE your ideas of where he should travel, the most inspiring ideas will define the route Black Dog travels. Again send ideas direct to SANE via email, Twitter @CharitySANE, or Facebook.
We look forward to seeing this campaign flourish as we all celebrate the new dawn of awareness the technical revolution has brought us.
