Snacks and refreshments will be provided.

I am coming and have already rsvped. 

Thankyou for both the organisers of this event and those who came along.  It was good transcend the internet barrier and prove that I am a real person. 

GA

Hi GA,

Sounds like you enjoyed the Perth forum meetup.

I'd like to go to the Melbourne meetup when ever that is.  Can you tell me what it was like?  What sort of activities were there?  Any public speaking/forums?  Was there food?

I'd also really like to know what you got out of it.

Cheers

Stitch

Hi Stitch, 

Great to hear that you are thinking about going to the meetup in Melbourne. 

There was free food and soft drink. There was also valuable information from the local mental health services. We had a speaker at ours, describing her experiences of depression who was very welcoming and honest about how depression had affected her. We even had a question session in which we could both ask questions and share some stories from our own past. 

Informally afterward, it was great to have conversation outside where you could openly discuss your relatively mental illnesses and experiences without the usual reactions. Instead we knew we were either sufferers or carers of people with mental illness so we on some level KNEW what it was like to not be able to get out of a doona everyday.

So I guess it could be best summed up as an extension of these forums- as a place where you could gather and talk openly about what we had been through. You were there in the flesh, with people as opposed to behind a keyboard. I knkw that can be scary for any internet meet up, but it is worth it. 

They also had this awesome pop up bus money bank which know sits on my bookshelves proudly. I got far to excited about having that bus. But I don't care I have a bus now. 

GA

Hi GA,

So glad you got along and had a good time, and thanks for the good review. :)

I GET A FREE POP-UP BUS MONEY BOX?????

Count me in. 

Stitch

Finally someone who sees it my way. 

GA

You can put MONEY in that thing??   Maybe I didn't make mine right?  :(  :(

However, it does sit pride of place on my shelf at work.  I honestly don't think a coin would even fit in mine - so I think they've upgraded (in more ways than one) since the Canberra leg.

GA, I'm so pleased for the occasion that you got to experience.  The one I went to, while I was only there for a short while, as I was in a terrible place at the time, and so meeting with people was very difficult for me then - but there was the bus, pamphlets and the like, a sausage sizzle and that was it.

To have had a speaker and then a Q&A kind of thing afterward;  THAT would have been brilliant.

ps:  I must say welcome to little Elsa, but as I write this, I'm very VERY nervous, as Elsa is looking downward - and it appears that her eyes are fixed on Nuggzy!  I'm worried.

Hi Neil, 

There is a slot thingy at the top. I don't have money to put into mine, but it sits in pride of place on the bookshelf none the less. 

Nuggsy shouldn't have to worry,  Elsa is still in the adorable but uncoordinated kitten stage. Its pure hilarity watching her attempt jumps that just don't work out, or watching her roll around on the floor after a toy mouse. 

GA

Hi

I'd have liked to attend but it's too far away.  Maybe you could pick a more central location  nearer Perth, some time in the future?  Hope it's a great event.

Hi Avalon,

Thanks for the feedback, I'll pass it on to our organisers. You may wish to join up with our blueVoices group so you can get more regular updates on potential future events.