A BLOG promoting mental health within communities has narrowly missed out on a top award.
Mind Waves, an NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde initiative, has been pipped at the post for a 2012 Technology4Good Award.
The project, launched last September, missed out to Radio Free Brighton in the awards, which reward charities and social businesses for innovative use of IT.
However it won praise for the idea of recruiting and supporting community reporters to produce a blog about local efforts to promote mental wellbeing in communities.
"This initiative sprung from the idea that there are many new ways of giving people a voice, " explains Trevor Lakey, NHSGGC health improvement and inequalities manager for mental health, alcohol and drugs. "Social media can be a force for empowerment as well as tackling stigma and negative attitudes and we spent about a year crafting this project and testing out the ideas."
Reporters were trained and supported to use a wide range of ways to promote messages about mental wellbeing such as social networking, blogging, internet sites such as YouTube, mainstream media and the creative arts.
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