I want some opinions.

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Lccska

Well-known member
Hi Ya'll (from Illinois),
I would like your opinions. I'm the Mother of young woman with Social Anxiety. I've watched her struggle. To be honest, I'm pissed off. She is very intelligent and has a lot to offer the world. I'm sure that is true for most of you. I'm mad because she didn't get her Bachelors Degree because she can't do public speaking.
So, I decided I was going to start an association for people with Social phobia/ anxiety. Here is my "Mission Statement".
Our Mission Statement:

“Help Us Help Ourselves”, is a not for profit organization founded to help people with Social Anxiety and/or Social Phobia become active members of society. We accomplish this through community education, employment sponsorships, group support and acknowledgement of the illness. We believe that due to the very nature of this illness there is a significant amount of the population that is misunderstood and alienated. This portion of the population needs our understanding, acceptance, and help.

I want to educate the public about social phobia. I want to sponsor employment opportunities. My thought is ,, no, you're not "normal". Probably never will be. That doesn't mean you can't be productive people. Each time I fill out 1 piece of paper, I get 10 more to fill out in order to get Gov't grants , IRS approval, etc. I'm not a computer genius and it is a lot of work. I decided to go to the source. If there was an association out there that would be your "voice", so to speak, would you use it?
I'm drowning in paperwork and I want to make sure I'm not just spinning my wheels. I can do public speaking and I'd fight a dragon to help my daughter.
So....what do you think. (this would start as a local chapter only. I would be willing to go as far as I can take it, then hand it over to others). So what is the verdict? Thank for your help.
 
fedupoffear88

fedupoffear88

Well-known member
Hello,

First of all, before I say anything else, this is a little off topic but anyways....I do not know if your daughter has ever communicated here on not. I would like to suggest you have you daughter be the one communicating here. She has to confront her fears and it seems absolutely impossible knowing from my personal day to day experience, for a person with SA to do it alone, but first she has to start helping herself before you can help her. That is something I have learned from my many years of suffering from SP. I overcome one fear only to find something new to fear. But, I keep fighting the fight everyday! To be honest, I have suffered immensely with SA/SP and yet, not to be boastful, I have had some big achievements in my life and people always tell me I am above average but that doesn't change a thing for me in the long run. But I never give up, and analyze my day to day life and try my best to overcome my fears every single day!

Now for your plan to create an organization, I think it is a bold and a great move! I would love to support it but then again I do not know how. But, it is definitely a gread idea! BTW, I am from Chicago...
 
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Silatuyok

Well-known member
I like the idea of sponsoring employment opportunities. One of the biggest problems we have as social phobics is getting ourselves recognized as valuable contributors to the work force. We are often overlooked because we don't interview well, or don't interact with coworkers naturally, or just plain don't know how to "shine" through the anxiety that hangs over us. Many of us are extremely intelligent and have skills and talent, but they just can't be seen by people/employers who don't know to look closely for it. Making employers aware of our value and compassionate to our situation would be a huge improvement for us.
 
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O'Killian

Well-known member
I think it's a good idea, especially if you've got any idea how to go about it. Even if the afflicted aren't going to flock to it right now, I'd think raising awareness would make them more likely to do so in the future. The less social anxiety is seen as a crippling stigma and more as an overcome-able obstacle, the better.

To answer your actual question, I, personally, probably wouldn't use it (right now; maybe ask me again after I'm back in college, heh). But that's as much because I'm stubborn enough about self reliance as anything else. I'd definitely feel better that such an organization existed.

So the short of it is I don't think you'd be tilting at windmills if you went through with this.
 
superfluouslyme

superfluouslyme

1
Sounds like a plan, Stan. I think getting people to come to you may be difficult at first, but if you can go to high schools and colleges and advertise of Facebook and whatnot, then you might have some success. Build it and they will come.

Oh, and hey, lookie, I'm from Illinois, too! ;)
 
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