Would you like to participate in a twitter chat about mental health?
A twitter chat = a real-time chat where you get to talk with others about topics of interest to you via twitter by using tweets that include a predefined hashtag to link those tweets together in a virtual conversation.
And if you’ve never done it before, not to worry – just read How To Participate In A Twitter Chat, basic guidelines or watch this video.
10 General Mental Health Twitter Chats:
#hcsm – Healthcare and Social Media was established in January 2009 as a way to bring individuals together to discuss health care and communications and social media – including doctors, patients, lawyers, communicators, for-profits, non-profits, hospitals, health systems, insurers, and many, many more. It is moderated by @HealthSocMed. Time: Every Sunday at 21:00 EST
#hcldr– Healthcare Leadership – Leadership in healthcare but all are welcome. Educational tweetchat. Time: Every Tuesday at 20:30 EST
#hchlitss – Healthcare Literacy and Social Sciences on empowering patients and healthcare literacy. Time: Every Thursday at 20:30
#MacroSW – Macro Social Work is a a collaboration of social workers, organizations, social work schools, and individuals working to promote macro social work practice. Macro social work practice focuses on changing larger systems, such as communities and organizations. Time: Every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month at 21:00 EST
#MHchat – Mental Health Chat is moderated by @ClaudiaMegele. It is dedicated to promoting and advancing the understanding of mental health and mental illness both among professionals and practitioners as well as allied professionals, policy makers and the general public. Time: Every Wednesday at 15:00 EST
#MHPchat – a second Mental Health Chat is being moderated by @CoachSharlotte. Official launch date is January 19, 2014. The topics to be discussed include: Best Practices, Handling Burnout, Social Media, and Therapeutic Techniques. Time: Every Sunday at 15:00 EST
#mhsm – Mental Health Social Media is hosted by @MHSMchat, a joint effort by Amy Kiel and Cindy Nelson together with @NAMIMass. Its goal is to bring the entire mental health community together and raise awareness, end stigma and continue our education process together. This means professionals in the field, activists, advocates, and those who struggle with mental health issues themselves are all welcome and part of this effort. Time: Every Tuesday at 21:00 EST
#scchat – Technology for School Counselors provides school counselors with information about the latest technology tools, trends and resources. Time: 1st Tues of every month at 20:00 EST
#SWHelper – is hosted by SocialWorkHelper [@deonahooper is the founder]. Topics discussed include: social justice, politics, and current events as well as issues relating to social work policy and practice. Time: Every Sunday at 3PM EST [started up again as of Mar 13]
#SWSCmedia – Social Work/Social Care & Media was launched in Oct 2011 by @SWSCmedia. Its aim is to bring social work and social care practitioners, organizations, academics, and other interested parties together, to discuss issues, innovations, opportunities and challenges in relation to social work and/or social care. Time: Every Tuesday at 15:00 EST and Wednesday at 20:00 EST [on hold]
*Also, note that there are many helpful healthcare chats related to specific diagnoses and content. To find one for your area of interest, search the healthcare hashtags project tweet chat section (or check out the below mentioned twitter chat schedule link).
7 Twitter Chats Addressing Special Concerns:
#AddictionChat – Addiction Chat covers a different topic every week and at least once a month a guest speaker is invited. Time: Every Wednesday at 21:00 EST
#bcsm – Breast Cancer and Social Media is moderated by Alicia C. Staley and @BCSMchat. It positions itself as the intersection of breast cancer and all things social media. Time: Every Monday at 21:00 EST
#eolchat – End of Life chat is moderated by Dr Becker Schutte. This chat was created to support & facilitate conversations among families, patients & providers about end of life issues. Time: Every Thursday at 21:30 EST
#ppdchat – my postpartum voice provides stories, resources, and insights for every struggling mother, for partners, family members, and even for professionals looking for a glimpse into the mind of a survivor. Time: Every Monday at 13:00 and 20:30 EST
#PTchat – Parent-Teacher Chat – topics about parent, teacher and community interactions; ways to improve family engagement practices and partnerships between parents and educator. Time: Every Wednesday at 21:00 EST
#SPSM – SPSM Chat ‘s mission to provide timely and engaging expertise in Suicide Prevention Social Media. It is generated and curated for both professional and public use. Time: Every Sunday at 22:00 EST (although on current summer hiatus)
#swjcchat – this social work journal twitter club started in July 2013. It is moderated by Ermintrude2. Its purpose is to discuss and share social work/social care related articles/policy documents. Time: Every other Thursday at 15:00 PM EST
5 Advocacy/Health IT/Nonprofit Twitter Chats:
#hachat – Health Activist Twitter Chat – a weekly twitter chat organized by Wego Health Time: Every Tuesday at 3PM EST
#HITsm – Health IT Social Media has been around since last January and it is moderated by @HealthStandards and @TheGr8Chalupa. Its mission is to exchange ideas and best practices on current health IT topics. Time: Every Friday at 12:00 EST
#MacroSW – discusses issues relevant to macro social work practice and is geared to practitioners at all career levels. It is a collaboration between public and private universities, students, community practice organizations, and individual macro social workers. Time: Every other Thursday at 9PM EST
#occupyhealthcare – Occupy Healthcare is about: How can we, the community, have our moment to influence and impact healthcare? Or, as the Occupy Wall Street movement has shown, how can we, the community, rise up and demand more for “the 99%”? Time: Periodic Sundays at 21:00 EST
#ynpchat – a new monthly Twitter chat for young nonprofit professionals that just started this month. It is hosted by the nonprofit and advocate experts, Rosetta Thurman and Allison Jones. Time: First Wednesday of every month at 12:00 EST
Interested in chats about other topics? Check out this link to a constantly updating list of twitter chats about all kinds of topics Twitter Chat Schedule. It has links to over 500 different twitter chats around the web!
Note: Updated July, 2015 thanks to Sean Erreger, LCSW who provided some new great additions/updates to the above list!
Do you have other mental health chats to add to this list? Also, have you participated in twitter chats? If yes, how beneficial have you found them?
Photo Credit: webtreats
YES let’s start #socialwork!! Because of school demands over the next couple of months I won’t be able to run it, but do you want to work with me on this?
I’m intrigued, Karen!
How would you envision such a chat being different from what #SWSCMedia provides? Would you like to email me offline about this or google me?
Something US-centric…we could speak to what is going on in social work here in the US.
That could definitely be an advantage to holding another twitter chat…sometimes the #SWSCMedia chats have become heavily dominated by issues/concerns going on in England.
I guess the next question is whether there is sufficient interest…I will pose this question on twitter to see if we get some bites of interest 🙂
Thanks for sharing my post, Dorlee. As always, you’ve put together a great list here. I’ve already sent one of the posts out to my faculty.
Re: US Twitter chats, I think there could be a lot of interest…I could publicize it through the national schools of social work email list and ask deans to share with faculty and students.
If we want to work this out/plan it I would suggest Google+ is a good place to do that planning with all who might be interested. And Erminitrude’s point about Google+ as a platform is intriguing..
I’m on board with the twitter chat idea but I can’t plan on Google+ because of anonymity issues. Otherwise I’m in!
I am interested in a U.S. social worker chat.
What is the current status of it going forward?
I’m interested.
I’m usually game for something new.
I would be interested in a US based social work twitter chat. I get off at 5pm Mtn standard time M-F!
Thanks for this comprehensive list! I think there’s a place for twitter chats but it’s very situational because twitter tends to be better at brief initial contacts and ‘bite size’ conversational chunks due to the 140 character limit. Something like Google+ would be better placed I think if there were ‘group’ identities available so that chats could be better archived and referred to later. I think there’s a problem as well if the number of people attending chats is too large as the conversations can pan out in too many directions and sometimes become a bit confusing to follow.
But – saying that, it’s a good use of the medium and is a part of us all finding our way in social media – certainly interesting to see how they develop – I’ve enjoyed and benefited from ‘attending’ these chats.
Some others that I’d add that are primarily UK focused but might interest those in social care and social work in the UK – #lgovsm which relates to social media in local government (which is where a good deal of social work takes place in the UK) which is on Tuesdays between 8.30pm and 9.30pm and #nhssm (NHS social media – again, a lot of crossover with UK social workers – specifically those in Mental Health fields but would crossover with all health services and social media ) between 8pm – 9pm on Thursday (the times I am giving are London time!)
One of the problems with twitter chats are the time zones too! I like the international aspect but its hard to find times to suit everyone.
Hi Ermintrude,
Thanks so much for providing your perspective on twitter chats as well as the information on 2 additional chats that would be of interest to those in social care and social work in the UK.
I agree with you that the 140 character limit, a potential loss of focus when/if the number of people attending is high and the issue of finding a convenient time for international chats are indeed drawbacks to this medium.
At the same time, like you, I too have enjoyed and benefited from the experience 🙂
I think it’s exciting to be a member of the mental health explorers, so to speak, as we try to make the most of twitter (or perhaps google+ down the road if it were to have the features you suggested)!
Warmly,
Dorlee
Dorlee,
I would love for you to review and possible discuss the potential of using Socialworkhelper.com as a space to host international and US debates. The network has been designed exclusively for social workers and other help professionals. The network has the ability to use a twitter style chat on the network or direct to Twitter using a Twitter dashboard app. and the appropriate #hashtag. The network currently has video chat, and I am working on creating a google hangout app for inside the network for users. I participate in the #SWSCmedia Chats, but the timing during the weekdays often prevent me from participating because of work. My network is constructed to handle an unlimited amount of members.
Hi Deona,
Thank you for offering your space as a potential place to host international and/or national social work debates.
Perhaps you could email me at dorleem at gmail.com with some more details as to what you had in mind.
Dorlee,
I think that you covered the bases of the ones that I know best. I think that two tools can really improve the value of Twitter chats. The first is a transcript of the chat–so that you can catch what you missed in busy chats, or get the whole picture if you weren’t able to participate. I know that Fox E-Practice does a very nice collection of healthcare related transcripts, and I’m sure there are other tools. The second tool is Storify, a free program that allows you to curate content from Twitter into a more readable format, that is then searchable & archivable.
I have truly enjoyed the exposure to ideas and people that I have gained in Twitter chats. Thanks for highlighting this tool.
Warmly,
Ann
Hi Ann,
Thanks so much for sharing some of your experience and knowledge about twitter chats 🙂
I agree that having access to searchable and archivable transcripts for the various twitter chats adds a lot to the whole experience. So far the chats that I have visited/participated in have provided access to such a record.
The tools you recommended look great. I just looked up Fox E-Practice at http://www.foxepractice.com/healthcare-hashtags/ and I see how it enables you to download transcripts of twitter chats that have registered with them.
It also suggests that perhaps all health related twitter chats want to ensure that they are registered with them – it’s another way of getting more participants…
Storify also sounds like a very helpful tool. I know some people have used it as a way to present other information extracted from twitter.
Warmly,
Dorlee
Us twitter chat sounds interesting. However, I’m taking classes full time for my CASAC and working on top of that. My mother is in the hospital so between visits and all of my other obligations, it will be hard for me to participate. I will certainly chime in if I have the opportunity!!
Hi Dorlee, I’m definitely interested! I really enjoy discussions regarding social work since I want to become one 🙂
Thanks so much to those of you who stopped by to let share your feelings about a potential U.S. focused social work twitter chat!
In light of the positive interest, Karen and I will discuss this further and keep you posted 🙂
Dorlee – I somehow missed your DM on Twitter until today. I would be interested in a Twitter chat. Let me know.
I have talked with a lot of people who are interested in having a #socialwork chat with a USA focus. Socialworkhelper.com will be taking on the task of moderating a weekly chat using the #socialworkh hashtag. The format is currently being developed not just to engage, but also collect data for those interested in further investigation. Feel free to add your opinion before the debate format has been finalized.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” Edmund Burke
Deona
How wonderful, Deona! As soon as you have the schedule set up for the #socialworkh weekly chat, please let me know either via a comment or via email so that I may update this post accordingly.
One thing that has made participating in the wonderful chats run by #SWSCMedia tough for some U.S. based social workers is the timing during the workday.
Looking forward to your chat:)