Growing Awareness

About a month ago I wrote about the a-ha moment in which I realized that my condition could empower me to help others instead of being something I "suffer" from (you can read that post here if you're so inclined). Since then, I've worked on making this blog a combination of my experiences and information/suggestions for others going through similar situations. Because I'm not a trained psychology professional, I really have just my personal experiences and those of others I know with mood disorders as fuel for my blogs. Still, I hope that through this I'm able to provide some helpful tips, or at least let others know that what they're going through isn't uncommon and that I'm hear to offer support, or even just lend an ear, if desired. Since I started this mission with the intent of helping others, I thought I'd reach out to you (collectively) for ideas on how best to grow this campaign, and what you feel is most needed and effective.

When I started to focus on mood disorder awareness, I'll admit that I wasn't quite sure of what I wanted to do. In other words, I didn't have much of a plan. To be honest, I still don't entirely.  The reason is several-fold. First and most practically, I own and operate Chimera Travel, and right now this is what pays the bills. I love my business, and I want to still be able to focus on it and give my clients the personalized service they've come accustomed to, so I need to make sure I'm balancing my business with these new efforts. Secondly, I have just haven't done anything like this before, and I want to make sure that my goals and vision align with the steps I'm taking to get there. I want to go about this the right way, and meet the needs that aren't currently being met when it comes to mood disorder awareness, education and support. 

My basic, and very loose, goals are the following:

• Offer information and suggestions through this blog for those that have mood disorders and even loved ones of those that have them.  By growing the following, I hope to increase my reach with this. 
• Provide a forum for open discussions on mood disorders and topics that surround them through the Mood Disorders Support System group on Facebook. 
• Work with, not against or in contrast to, any existing systems or groups that already exist. Mood disorder awareness should not be a competition - that won't help anybody! 
• Eventually grow the online group into local support/education groups where applicable. This is a particularly loose goal, as I'm not sure if I'd prefer something that's solely for mood disorder 'sufferers', for education of others that might not be aware of/understand mood disorders, or a combination. Thoughts?
• Some sort of fundraising for awareness, education and research of mood disorders. I've looked and looked for some sort of national organization/association that focuses on mood disorders, and I've been unable to find one. I'd love to eventually partner with something like this, even on a more local level (say a state level), but there really doesn't seem to be much out there that I can find, at least not in the U.S. 

So my questions are: what other/alternative goals do think such a mission could or should have? Do you know of any local/national efforts, groups, organizations or associations that I could maybe work with in the long run? What other information or suggestions might you be able to offer and what would you personally like to see happen that you feel is currently lacking in mood disorder awareness/support/education? 

This blog truly depends on your feedback, so I'd love to hear from you. I'm working on getthing this whole passion and idea more focused, and creating an overall vision and goals, and eventually the steps to get there, is the first stepping stone (after deciding to do this at all).  Thanks, as always, for your thoughts!