Overview
Goal
My original goal for this blog was to create a clearinghouse of diverse information on mental illness that was relevant to young adults, both those with mental illness and those without. After blogging for several months, I’ve realized my focus may have been too broad, as I had to keep adding categories to cover all the stories I was mentioning.
So, if I were to create a new and improved Millennial Mind, I’d take the “veterans issues” category and focus solely on that. I would limit it to Illinois veterans because many great Web sites already exist that serve a national veteran audience, but also because Illinois is unique in providing more programs for veterans than many other states do (although it doesn’t fund all of them adequately).
I’m not a veteran, but I’ve become more interested in military topics this quarter through this blog and articles I wrote for the Urban RPA. During one of my stories, one thing I kept hearing from veterans was that there weren’t enough places to get all the information they needed about benefits. I would like my blog to help fill that gap and provide a way for veterans dealing with PTSD and other issues to contact each other and find resources, perhaps through message boards or even social networking.
Community
The overwhelming bulk of my visitors are from Illinois, where I currently live and go to school. The second-largest state is California, followed by Washington, D.C.
According to Google Analytics, I got hits from 28 states (including D.C.) and 10 foreign countries. The biggest source outside the U.S. was Canada, which is not surprising because I have several Canadian friends from college who I e-mailed about my blog. I assume they are at least half of my four visitors from the Great White North. Sadly, not too many of my other friends appear to have visited; not very many people came to my blog through my e-mail signatures or Facebook profile (where I promoted it). However, dozens of people found me through pingbacks on other blogs where I linked to entries I found newsworthy. Four people searching for information related to the military found me through Google.
For my next-generation blog, the bulk of the community would be young veterans, mostly of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their family and friends. Some organizations include Iraq War Veterans, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Student Veterans of America and Veterans of Modern Warfare. (I may mention anti-war groups such as Iraq Veterans Against the War if they say something pertinent, but I will aim to stay neutral on particular conflicts.)
However, it would also include veterans from earlier conflicts, employees of government and health-care agencies, and anyone else interested in veterans issues. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars would be important institutions.
Plan
- Limit focus to mental health as it pertains to Illinois veterans.
- Do more interviews with people connected to this topic: other journalists, returning veterans, mental-health professionals, etc.
- Contact existing veterans organizations, Web sites, publications such as Stars and Stripes and Army Times, and Facebook groups to promote my site and ask for suggestions.
- Contact state and federal veterans departments and see what information and resources they have.
- Add message boards.
- Add social networking, maybe through Ning.
- Keep up with other general and specific-interest mental-illness blogs and make their topics relevant to my audience.
- Look for mainstream media articles on veterans and share them in a way that a younger audience can appreciate.
(Photo: “Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America’s Returning Troops” by Ilona Meagher. Ilona Meagher/Flickr)
