Summary

The Icarus Project is requesting a grant of $50,000 in the category of "education and media" to develop, produce, and disseminate nationally, an array of materials, which are designed to help students and other young people struggling with mental health issues facilitate discussions, to raise awareness about mental health alternatives, and to provide critically needed information on a broad variety of life issues.

Program Design

Self-education and community support can be vital for young adults to accept and heal from mental health crises and to learn to develop full adult lives. The prevailing paradigm of mental health education encourages people to embrace a model of disease and a passive identity as a consumer that overlooks the needs of many creative young people who are desperately seeking help. While numerous conventional support group structures are made available to adults, family members, and those who are comfortable with the medical model of mental illness, there are very few compelling peer-based support structures created by and for young and creative populations struggling to define their own experiences. The Icarus Project recognizes that many youth are alienated by mental health outreach that offers prepackaged answers. Our approach creates a framework for asking intelligent questions.

The Icarus Project draws its name from the ancient Greek myth of Icarus, the boy with wax wings who overestimated his powers and flew too close to the sun. We have found that the simple idea that our extraordinary sensitivities and struggles can be understood as dangerous gifts requiring great care - like Icarus' wings - has resonated with thousands of people from all walks of life. Our materials and outreach employ myth, metaphor, archetype, and art - combined with practical information, skill sharing, and mutual support. This approach offers provocative and intriguing invitations to self-exploration and shared discussion rather than labels, programs, or injunctions. Through the thousands of discussions on our interactive website, our speaking engagements, community events, dynamic publications, and network of allied local groups, The Icarus Project has created space for people struggling with the experiences commonly labeled as mental illness to share their wisdom and learn from each other's stories. Our philosophy encourages individuals to find the help that fits their needs, and creates space for conventional medical treatment and alternative approaches to coexist. Our growing international network attracts individuals who are interested in learning to participate in their own wellness and become leaders in their communities.

Over the last 4 years, members of The Icarus Project have conducted dynamic workshops and organized community gatherings at schools and universities in New York City and across America. We have made connections with thousands of people. Our efforts have helped to seed ongoing dialog and spur the formation of a variety of local groups in towns and on college campuses across the country. In the course of this work we've met many students who are seeking guidance in how to facilitate discussions about self-care and community rather than looking for more medical advice. We have had numerous requests from students who:

In 2004 we published a reader, Navigating the Space Between Brilliance and Madness, a collection of first-person accounts of struggles with bipolar disorder and other mental health issues that is now in its sixth printing. In recent years we have also completed and distributed a second publication, Friends Make the Best Medicine: A Guide to Creating Mental Health Support Networks, as well as creating a variety of posters, flyers, graphics, and promotional materials that people are using to raise awareness about mental health alternatives and The Icarus Project vision. In response to the success of this work and the growing interest in securing additional materials, we plan to create compelling, easily replicable, popular education guides that people can use within their schools and communities to initiate and continue discussions about mental health and community wellness.

Drawing on the example of groups like Alcoholics Anonymous and the successful student LGBT organizations, we plan to publish an array of materials that help people to start discussion groups and educate themselves. We aim to share collective wisdom, while leaving ample room for personal choice. Rather than offering expert opinions or endorsing any specific forms of treatment, we intend to create beautiful materials that reflect our collective experiences and create “listening spaces” that invite discussion, dialogue, and a diversity of views. Our organizing at New York University has shown that a discussion group and popular education format avoids the stigma and isolation encountered by the 'support group' model. Discussion groups, similar to the traditional class format but participant-led, allow students to talk about their personal issues in a familiar format without feeling as vulnerable and exposed. By being inclusive and welcoming the participation of all, the discussion group format emphasizes that mental health issues are everyone's needs and that we all have a role to play in caring for each other.

Process:

Needs Assessment - Our thriving website with more than 4,000 registered users has thousands of discussions on compelling topics such as the relationship between art and depression, communicating effectively with doctors, the role of spirituality, questioning sexuality, and holistic treatment options. These website discussions, combined with the strong response to our Navigating the Space reader and meetings we've had with hundreds of other students and youth, have raised important topic areas for further development. In the needs assessment stage of our popular education project, we will take what we've learned and gather young adults and adolescents for further meetings to focus in on specific areas that will inform subsequent research and writing, which will then be presented in written printed materials.

Topics - Some of the topic areas already raised by students that we plan to further investigate include: telling our stories, asking for support, educating our families, helping struggling friends, investigating treatment alternatives, choosing healthcare providers, abuse and trauma, making crisis maps, gender, sexuality and mental health, language and labels, substance abuse and harm reduction, and practical tools for navigating altered states and emotional extremes.

Collaborative Writing Process - The Icarus Project staff brings years of experience as writers, mental health advocates and community educators. We will engage in a collaborative relationship with students and young adults to bring their voices into the creation of our popular education materials.

Design and Publication Stage - The Icarus Project is distinguished by our unique creative design and appealing imagery, which stand in contrast to the medical and commercial feel of most mental health outreach materials. Using art submitted by Icarus members and our own professional design expertise, we will create a series of discussion guides, brochures, fact sheets, and posters. We have preexisting relationships with reliable printers we have been working with for a number of years to ensure realization of our design visions in final printed form. We will produce a minimum of 4 brochures and 4 discussion guides that will be printed, as well as available for downloading on our website.

Distribution - Dozens of distributors and independent bookstores currently carry Icarus Project materials. In addition, our website membership serves as an active distribution network. We also distribute our materials at numerous public speaking events and gatherings. We have established official and unofficial partnerships with other organizations who are interested in helping facilitate more wide-spread distribution including Fountain House, the Jed Foundation, and Active Minds, the nation's only peer-to-peer organization dedicated to the mental health of college students with over 50 chapters on college campuses. We project a minimum distribution of 8,000 brochures and 2,000 discussion guides.

Capacity

Over the last four years The Icarus Project has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to captivate and reach underserved youth populations, produce effective and strikingly creative educational materials, and stimulate significant interest in issues of mental health and wellness among those who previously wouldn't even have admitted to needing help. Our website, which began four and half years ago as a fledgling creative endeavor managed by two volunteers, has become a thriving online community of over 4000 members. Today we offer a unique resource for people struggling with the modern dilemma of being labeled with serious mental illness. We have received wide coverage in the media and have sparked the development of a network of grassroots mental health mutual aid support.

Since receiving a grant from the Ittleson Foundation in 2004, we have succeeded in setting up the infrastructure and groundwork for sustainable organizational capacity and growth. Over the past year, with a limited budget and small staff, we've nourished our community network, completed key long-term projects, strengthened our administrative and staff structure, developed our volunteer base, and laid a solid bedrock for the future. Our hard work has earned us the dedication of numerous volunteers and student interns, and has deepened our autonomous partnership with Fountain House, the founding mental health clubhouse, where we receive ongoing technical assistance and a donated beautiful office space in midtown Manhattan.

The strength of our grassroots network and the dedication of our staff have allowed us to successfully encourage community organizing at New York University and publish Friends Make the Best Medicine: A Guide to Creating Community Mental Health Support Network. This 32 page booklet, which represents the first of our popular education materials, is now downloadable from our website, and is being distributed widely by collaborators. Current subject areas include starting groups from scratch, organizing community events, ensuring confidentiality, creating listening spaces, addressing diversity, and facilitating discussions on difficult topics. Response has been enthusiastic and has underscored the need for more detailed publications focusing on specific topics in mental wellness and community support.

Our successful organizing efforts at New York University are guiding the development of the next series of materials. Over the last two years, our work at NYU and in New York City has been based on extensive collaboration with student volunteers, four of whom became Icarus interns through NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Our longstanding dialog with NYU's Counseling Center, Wellness Exchange, and Crisis Hotline workers has inspired productive discussions and helped us understanding the concerns of academic institutions in dealing effectively with mental health issues in their student body. In addition we have forged a vital partnership with professor and psychiatrist Bradley Lewis, who regularly invites Icarus representatives to present in his classes and speak in public discussion panels. Our presence on campus has inspired numerous Icarus Project events and meetings, including film screenings, nutrition skillshares, gender, sexuality, and mental health discussions, and the first annual Open Minds conference - a collaboration of academics and social activists in the mental health field. Each of these successes demonstrates that our work is beginning to fill an important gap in NYU's already extensive approach to mental health student services. These conversations and events have made it clear to us that students are eager for more guidance in holding regular group discussion and engaging in peer education and support. We are also clearly learning valuable lessons for future campus organizing across North America.

The Icarus Project has continued to maintain a regular presence in Fountain House's education unit, and our success in reaching out to New York City college students led Fountain House to offer us permanent office space and welcome us as long term partners in our joint effort to reach and give support to college age youth struggling with serious mental health issues. The Icarus Project's presence in New York City has brought new members to Fountain House, and our presence in the building has led to a reciprocal cross-pollination of their members attending Icarus Project events and being involved in outside Icarus related activities. It has been acknowledged publicly on a number of occasions that our presence in the House is having an influence on their long-term culture by bringing in youthful energy and integrating alternative perspectives that offer new tools to overcome stigma and self-doubt. We are inspired by the scope and strength of the International Clubhouse Network and the cross-generational lessons we have to learn from each other in our support work. We are very excited to be part of expanding this collaboration in the coming years.

Evaluation

The evaluation of the Popular Education Materials project provides the opportunity for our organization to build our capacity to conduct program evaluation that provides information for continuous program improvement and demonstrates to the van Ameringan Foundation the impact we have on the lives on young adults struggling with serious mental health issues.

Our evaluation will employ quantitative and qualitative methods to track both process and outcome objectives.  The use of a mixed methods approach meets the standard for generally accepted evaluation practices and has become widely acknowledged as the preferred approach in demonstrating both the breadth and depth of social programs and services.  Our approach to the evaluation will mirror our inclusive process for developing materials and designing programs. 

Process Evaluation.
An important first step in building internal evaluation capacity is collecting information that documents our accomplishments and progress towards meeting our program objectives.

Document total number of users accessing materials through the website.[Author ID1: at Tue Apr 3 21:39:00 2007 ]

Document the total number of requests for printed materials. [Author ID1: at Tue Apr 3 21:39:00 2007 ]

Outcome Evaluation.

We propose to develop a web-based user survey to document changes in outcomes which are considered to measure important pathways to change in behaviors. Website users who download popular education materials will be asked to enter an email address.  The users will receive a follow up no sooner than 3 months after downloading materials.  Survey Monkey (http://surveymonkey.com) will be used to distribute the survey.  The results of the survey will provide compelling information about the impact and potential effectiveness of the project for students and young adults who use the materials. 

Participation in the evaluation is voluntary. Website visitors do not have to participate in the survey to download materials. The findings will have two important purposes:

Conclusion

The Icarus Project has a proven track record of successfully fulfilling its commitments to it has made to its funders. We believe that a grant from the van Ameringen Foundation will help enable us to expand substantially the support we are able to provide to the growing numbers of our members.