This past week, I have been conducting
interviews with friends from work and outside of school in order to
determine how to best meet their needs in helping address the stigma against
mental illness. I created a set of interview questions that were both brief and
in depth about their personal experience with stigma and receiving healthcare.
I am still waiting to hear back from several more people. I think my biggest
challenge in the project so far has been waiting to hear back from people. I didn’t
have a huge warning for this project so it has taken everyone a bit to reply.
If I were to go back and do this project again, I would have started earlier or
thought through my timing better.
Through the answers I was able to receive, I
learned that nearly all the responses include a story of mental illness stigma.
All of the people I have heard from also said they wished it were easier to
afford care; currently the cost of mental health care is very expensive and not
covered by all insurance companies.
My next goal for this project is to reach out to
therapists and counselors in the Tampa area that work at on low cost/ sliding
scale basis so I can begin to figure out how accessible cheaper care is.
