Site Specialists Needed

Search out new information for subject areas that we focus on. Gather information and links that are on the Internet, as well as material not on the Internet. Help us quickly enhance each of the key areas of the web site so that we always have the most recent information on the new medications, treatments, etc.

Goal: To keep Schizophrenia.com as up-to-date as possible.

Estimated Time Commitment: +/- 2-4 hours weekly, flexible. There may be an ebb and flow with the amount of time each week depending on how much is in the schizophrenia.

Internet-based Educational Opportunities for People that have Schizophrenia

Because people with Schizophrenia are very sensitive to stress they frequently cannot participate in regular college courses. Internet-based education takes the stress out of college and non-college courses to allow people to participate at home in a lower stress environment at their own pace. Help us build up a listing of the organizations that offer these courses and note the various degrees that they will confer over the Internet and in what subjects.

Goal: To help people with schizophrenia, who often have difficulty leaving their home, to have access to valuable educational resources.

Estimated Time Commitment: Total project time is probably about 50 hours, so if it is divided by 4 people, it is about 12 hours each total, plus maybe a bit more.

There are a few schools that we already know provide online resources, and even degress in some instances, such as UCLA, Berkeley and others, but we'd like to find more. The best method for doing this is probably just good old fashioned brute force, meaning that you should just keep searching on the major search engines, (yahoo, excite, etc.) for online classes and we'll just put up whatever good links you find. Also, if you could write a short summary of each program you find mentioning some of the specifics of the program such as, specialties, cost, equipment required, strength of faculty (is it a profressor or just a professional in a related field), possible degrees conferred, accreditation, average time commitment and any other details that seem important. I don't know how many different programs are out there, but i'd like to have a minimum of fifteen links as a result of this project and hopefully many more. It would also be good if the people who do this project keep checking back periodically to see if new programs are being offered so that we can stay up to date.

Internet-based work that People that have Schizophrenia can do from Home

Because people with Schizophrenia are very sensitive to stress they frequently cannot participate in regular work opportunities. Internet-based work takes the stress out of the experience and may to allow people to participate in work opportunities at home in a lower stress environment. Help us build up a listing of these type of work opportunities and success stories by those who are working.

Relationship Building with Publishers of Schizophrenia-related Books

There are at least a couple of books printed every month on the topic of schizophrenia. Psychiatrists, researchers, family members and people suffering from schizophrenia need to know about these new books, and we'd also like to let the publishers and authors know about our web site so that we get mentioned in their books. We need a few people (at least one of which is based in New York with experience in the publishing industry due to the focus of publishing there) to contact publishers as representatives of this web site, to get review copies of the new books (get put on a list of their advance reviewer's list), and if the book is a good one - invite the author in for a virtual discussion on his or her book for people to talk directly with the authors.

Goal: To be able to inform people of the best in schizophrenia literature.

Estimated Time Commitment: This one is something that can take someone very little time, if they have the right connections, or could take a little longer if not. Either way, it shouldn't be too large a time commitment.

This job will require phone calling to various publishing houses to get schizophrenia.com on the list for book previews (i.e. to get free books on schizophrenia that we will then distribute to our reviewers, who will then write up reviews that will go out to approximately 10,000 readers of our schizophrenia newsletter. You should be located in New York City for this volunteer effort because most of the publishers are here (and it would help if you had some experience in the book publishing industry - but thats certainly not required).

How to Get SSI/Supplemental Security Income Benefits (Disability Pensions) in the US and Canada

A frequent need for people with schizophrenia is to get some sort of social security benefits. This can be a very difficult process because the person that has schizophrenia may not understand they have the illness, or may go through periods when they cannot handle their finances, etc. Our goal here is to develop a resource area with tips from people who have successfully gotten Social Security - with advice on how to handle different problems that might come up. Our goal is to have links to all the forms that are required in either Canada or the US.

Goal: To inform families of the ins and outs of filing for Supplemental Security Income.

Estimated Time Commitment: The ideal volunteer is someone who has had to fill out these forms and is familiar with the routine. It shouldn't take too long to write down some instructions and personal stories about what you did to fill them out and mistakes you've made that could have been avoided.

We'd like to have every form that is applicable to SSI and Disability Insurance or Medicaid scanned into the site. SSI is a federal thing but, there are state specific forms that we'd like to scan onto the site so that people can have immediate access to them if needed quickly. Since they are government forms, they are in the public domain and we can post them.

How to help people who don't understand they have Schizophrenia

Studies show that upwards of 50% of people with schizophrenia have significant problems understanding that they have schizophrenia because the part of the brain that is affected is the part that has to do with rational decision making. This resource area will include advice and tips from people that have gotten treatment for people when a person has not initially thought that they needed help.

Goal: To develop a resource center for families that have a mentally ill loved one that lacks insight into their illness. Studies show that upwards of 50% of people that suffer from schizophrenia will never understand that they have the illness - and they are frequently too paranoid, or incapacitated to seek help. Research indicates that since the part of the brain that would judge that something is awry is the part that is not functioning correctly, it is difficult or frequently impossible for someone to understand that they have a problem.

At the same time there is a lot of research that shows the earlier a person that has schizophrenia gets treatment, the better the outcome. This resource center would include important commitment information for countries and states, as well as personal stories about the particular idiosyncracies of the system in different areas - so that we can get treatment for our loved ones when it will do the most good. We can solicit personal commitment stories from the newsletter to help other families understand how they might be able to get treatment for their loved one even though they lack insite into their illness.

Ideal Person: A family member that has experienced the frustration of trying to get treatment for a sibling/son/daughter who is ill with schizophrenia but not "a danger to self or others" and who managed ultimately to get treatment for their loved one.

Estimated Time Requirement: This will require an estimated 30 hours over a couple months to pull together the information from other people - with over 3,000 subcribers to our newsletter we have people all around the world that can help provide information and stories - but we need someone to organize all this and put it together. You might also have to edit hours to write down your stories that are submitted.

One of the most difficult parts of schizophrenia is getting the consumer to realize that something is wrong.

Discussion Area Mediators/Specialists

A lot of the needs and issues that individuals and families have in dealing with schizophrenia are common to the thousands of other people fighting this illness, but a lot of people feel uncomfortable talking about these needs and problems even anonymously over the Internet. Discussion area volunteers are needed to focus on one area and help draw people into conversations on given subjects so that we can get more ideas on how to address the common issues that are faced. In other words, we need people to throw out topics so that there are always a few things to talk about. You can draw on your own experiences, prompt others to share theirs, or simply ask general questions to get responses.

Goal: To help keep the dialogue flowing in the discussion groups so as to make the discussions as helpful to people as possible, to keep them focused, to help people find resources on the web site that are relevant to the discussions (by dropping in links to the relevant web pages, to stimulate further discussion, and to generally help people in the discussion area.) We'd like people to specialize, or focus on one discussion area at a time - and get to know how to search out resources on that subject/topic so that they can provide links to valuable resources during conversations (for example if a person asks about a medication in the Medication discussion area, the Discussion group specialist might post the web address (also called a URL (Uniform Resource Locator)) to the discussion so that the person can simply click on the web address to instantly check out the information.

Estimated Time Commitment: It shouldn't require very much time. You'll have to log into the discussion areas and post messages every day or two to help prompt people to respond, respond to questions, further stimulate conversation, etc.. You also may organize chat sessions in your topic if you'd like to also.

The discussion/chat areas have been working really well and we'd like to keep people interested enough to check in every day or two to keep current. Your mission is to help people in the discussion area that you focus on (for example medication, or "Open") and to help maximize the value of these discussion areas to other users.

Speakers/Special Events Co-ordination

There are a lot of people out there that know a lot about all aspects of schizophrenia - book authors, researchers, consumers, etc. that we'd like to invite to our site for discussions. We need someone to work with the people that find out about the new books on schizophrenia, and new published research, and invite them to our discussion areas to respond to questions. The co-ordinator of these events will contribute significantly in keeping us up to date on the latest developments and news in schizohprenia and also meet a lot of interesting people. Ideally we'd have a different speaker or discussion person every two weeks.

Goal: To attract top authors and researchers to give a discussion on their topic of expertise in the discussion areas of our web site..

Estimated Time Commitment: This one is an ongoing project that can use as much time as you want. We can start slow with just one presentation/discussion every three months - (approximately the rate we are at now) and then increase it as you have time. By working with the person/people that are contacting the publishers you can probably quite easily get a good list of potential authors. To date I've had a very good reception by the authors of books - electronic meetings to discuss their books are becoming more popular and it is very convenient for these authors to do (they can do it from the comfort of their home frequently - and can log in whenever it is convenient).

I have typically asked that an author come in and support a discussion for a one week period (these are not like "chat sessions" but rather more like a bulletin board session where a person will ask a question one day, and then the author can dial into the Internet the next day and respond to questions). This format maximizes flexibilty for the authors - because they can drop into our web site at anytime of the day or night to respond to questions - and for our readers - many of whom might only visit the site once or twice a week.

To see an example of a discussion hosted by an author drop by the www.schizophrenia.com discussion areas and visit the "conference" titled "Seminar #1 - How to live with a mentally ill person" hosted by author Christine Adamec.  This was our first author to host such a seminar - we had another, more interactive one hosted by Clea Simon, author of "Mad House" (a sibling book), but we lost that discussion recently when our computer server crashed.

Ideally, we'd like to have an author or researcher about twice a month to visit the discussion areas for a couple of days like Christine Adamec or Clea Simon have done.

Internationalization Project - Translations of key information to French, Spanish, etc.

Currently there is very little information about schizophrenia available on the Internet in languages other than English. We would like to provide some of the best information from the articles and news in other languages such as French and Spanish. We are looking for people who are fluent in other languages to help translate some of the articles and help the many people that don't speak English.

Goal: To help with international usage of the site, we'd like to have important pages translated into languages other than English.

Estimated Time Commitment: As much as you are willing to give. We've got more documents than you could translate in your whole life on this site. Pick a few and take your time. There is no immediate rush on this project.

We're looking for all different languages. In particular, Spanish, French, German, Swedish, Dutch. If you speak another language, we'd love your help. No previous translation experience necessary.

Book Reviewers

As part of our efforts to get informed of the new books that are published on an on-going basis about developments in schizophrenia we are contacting publishers and getting on their lists of organizations to send books to. At the same time we need people to read these new books and provide reviews of the books for our newsletter readers. If you are interested, please drop us an email and let us know what type of books on schizophrenia/mental illness you are interested in reviewing. You may even get a free book out of the deal!

Goal: To review and publicize the best books availible regarding schizophrenia. We anticipate the need for a number of reviewers - please send an email to Jake Ballon (szwebmaster@yahoo.com) on what type of book you would be interested in reviewing - categories include: research oriented, medical professional oriented, family help, sibling help, advocacy, etc. (let us know of others).

Estimated Time Commitment: This is the most flexible in terms of time commitment.Take your time and read and just write a short (one page or so) review.

Books are being published with increasing frequency on the topic of schizophrenia and mental illness. As we work to gain ties with publishers, we'll have more free copies of current books that we can pass on to the volunteers in this area. For this reason, you may get a free book out of the deal!

New Newsletter providing the Latest Schizophrenia Research Information (Lucas' Project)

Www.schizophrenia.com will be providing a free biweekly science email newsletter containing schizophrenia research abstract briefs covering the most recent issues of 35 journals compiled by a team of volunteer researchers. These abstracts will be cataloged on site and will be searchable in the near future.

When we polled the research community about their interest in this newsletter, we recieved their enthusiastic support. Now it is time to put that idea into practice. In order to put together our newsletter we need a team of qualified researchers or students ( having at least a undergraduate degree in the biological sciences or psychology, or preferablily advanced degree researchers) to track a selected few journals and email me the contents in order to send out the compiled list to the rest of the world. This is a chance to put the work that you would do naturally to benefit the entire community. You will recieve recognition by being listed at a copy editor and you can post your own page describing your own research and research interests on the site.

Please email me using "Research Volunteer" as the subject if you are interested in helping.

Lucas Kempf, editor lucas@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu

Email Promotions Manager for New Schizophrenia Research Email Newsletter

We need to let the researchers in schizophrenia know about this new schizophrenia research digest - so this person will contact (via email) all the people that might be interested in this free service and let them know about it. We'll have a list of the research centers and Universities that you'll be able to work through. This will help "get the word out" about this great new, free service.

Goal: To increase the number of people that know about, and can benefit from the research portion of the web site. To increase the number of subscriptions to the newsletter and the traffic to the discussion areas so that there is better sharing of information and an increased knowledge about advancements made by researchers around the world in the field of schizophrenia.

The focus here is on increasing the subscriber list for our new schizophrenia research summary called Kraepelin's Compendium - which will be a monthly (or so) email newsletter that includes summaries of all the recent schizophrenia research that has been published in the 35 or so journals that cover schizophrenia research. The goal here is to make schizophrenia researchers around the world more productive (by having better and more complete information) so that a cure for the illness is more quickly found, and discoveries relating to schizophrenia are more quickly propogated.

Estimated Time Commitment: As much as you are willing to commit. At least one hour a week and more if you wish.

We are open to ways to "Get the word out" about the web site, newsletter, and discussion areas - but some ideas are:

1. You'll just look up psych professors and psychologists/psychiatrists that are on the web and send them an email telling them about how to subscribe to the newsletter.

2. You find out about newsgroups and discussion areas (at other web sites) that also discuss or provide information on mental illnesses and let people know about our web site and free newsletter services.

3. We periodically publish press releases announcing special events at the web site (such as authors, speaking, etc.) and send these to journals that cover schizophrenia research.

Journey of Hope - Internet-based Class Trainers

We have gotten approval by Joyce Burland, developer of the Journey of Hope program, to offer over the Internet this class that helps family members copy with mental illness. We are actively looking for two types of volunteers:

1. Experienced Journey of Hope Trainers - people that have taught the Journey of Hope class already and would be interested in leading a class over the Internet. The advantage of doing it over the Internet is that you can lead the class directly from your home computer, and all the class materials are already on the computer and automatically get sent toeveryone during each class - so its much easier and requires less advance preparation.

2. We are interested in growing the number of Journey of Hope trainers - so if you have taken the course and might be interested in teaching a course over the Internet please let us know.

Goal: To teach NAMI's Journey of Hope program online. (Note this project is on hold for a few weeks until we some technicalities are straightened out with NAMI - but please contact us if you are interested in this and we will notify you as the status changes).

Estimated Time Commitment: About the same as preparing to teach the class to a live audience.

We have new software that will allow us to give realtime classes over the internet. We'd like for people to be able to teach this class, or other classes, and we're also looking for people interested in becoming Journey of Hope trainers.

Schizophrenia Discussions Area Promotions Manager

This job is similar to the email promotions manager. Here, we want people to know about the discussions and to help out. We are interested in having authors and/or researchers spend a few hours answering questions so that we can have various experts on the site approximately twice monthly. Also, this involves making sure that Yahoo has a listing for the special events in their online events of the day section so that people can find what we have to offer.

Goal: To increase the number of people that know about, and can benefit from the web site. To increase the number of subscriptions to the newsletter and the traffic to the discussion areas so that people share more about what they've learned about schizophrenia and support each other to a greater level.

Ideal Team to work on this: The ideal team to work on this effort would be some people who are knowledgeable or interested in the web and able to search around and find the people, newsgroups, etc. that are related to mental illness and schizophrenia - to let them know of our site and newsletter services. Also it would be ideal to have a person with some experience with PR to type up and place press releases with the relevant press.

Estimated Time Commitment: As much as you are willing to commit. At least one hour a week and more if you wish.

We'd like to see more people to link to our web site (any site related to mental illness, schizophrenia, bipolar, etc.) so that their users know of this good resource for information on schizoprhenia. We'd also like to get word out to more students and professors at universities about the web site and about the newsletter, and we'd also like to do a drive to get the message out about the site to psychiatrists.

We are open to ways to "Get the word out" about the web site, newsletter, and discussion areas - but some ideas are:

1. You'll just look up psych professors and psychologists/psychiatrists that are on the web and send them an email telling them about how to subscribe to the newsletter.

2. You find out about newsgroups and discussion areas (at other web sites) that also discuss or provide information on mental illnesses and let people know about our web site and free newsletter services.

3. We periodically publish press releases announcing special events at the web site (such as authors, speaking, etc.)

Newsletter Reporters

We need some people to help with writing the newsletter. This means scanning various news organizations and press release organizations for relevant information and sending the articles to whomever is in charge of editing the newsletter for that time. Since many of the sources of our articles are copyrighted, we need people to summarize and put into their own words many of these stories so that we can legally publish them. By helping in this effort, we will be able to cover the world of schizophrenia news more copiusly and will make it easier to publish the newsletter that is such a central part of the site.

Goal: To have articles for the newsletter every two weeks.

Estimated Time Commitment: It takes a few hours to find and publish a few articles for the newsletter. Allow additional time to rewrite copyrighted articles into your own words. Split up amongst 3-4 people, it should be about 1-2 hours for the two weeks.

These can be articles covering any aspect of Schizophrenia. We just want the latest news for the subscribers. See previous newsletters to get an idea of the type of articles we usually run.

Related Illnesses Specialists

There are numerous diseases that are often correlated with schizophrenia. Bipolar Disorder, Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia are just some of them. What we'd like is for someone interested in one of those other diseases to keep tabs on that disease and in particular note if there is any news concerning the treatment of that disease. This way, we can help people probe their doctors and get the best treatment in related disorders which can help with the treatment of their schizophrenia. This was we also can alert people that they may have more than just schizophrenia and can seek help with their associated disease.

Goal: To give some coverage to other major mental illnesses besides schizophrenia, in particular bipolar disorder (Manic Depression) and depression which are all associated with (or misdiagnosed as) schizophrenia frequently.

Estimated Time Commitment: An hour or two a week to search for good web resources about these other mental illnesses.

Newsletter Editors

This job involves compiling all the collected articles from the Reporters and formatting them into the newsletters in the way you've received them. This may also involve answering some of the mail that is generated after a newsletter is sent out. You do not need to know the answers to such questions, but you should be able to give an idea of where to look for an answer (doctor, library, etc.)

Childhood Schizophrenia Resources

We need people who have experienced a child developing schizophrenia to help get the word out to parents that though the most common time for developing the disease in college age, it can be developed in rare occurences at much younger ages. Many people think that their child is simply acting "strange" and that nothing is wrong, when perhaps their child is suffering from major mental illness. Since prompt treatment is the best and most effective, we want parents to be aware that this disease can strike at a young age as well.