Cohousing-L Mailing List: Call for Articles Communities #150: Mental Health: Challenges and Hope

[Communities Editor (editor]

Hello,

/Communities/ magazine is now seeking articles for issue #150, “*Mental 
Health: Challenges and Hope*.” The issue will be out in March 2011.

Please send your article idea to _editor [at] ic.org <mailto:editor [at] ic.org>_ 
by *Friday, September 24, 2010*, or sooner if possible.

Your final article must reach us by *Friday, November 19, 2010*.

1. Theme articles: /*Mental Health: Challenges and Hope*/

   / possible questions to address (feel free to pick and choose or
   innovate):/

   * How do mental health issues affect your intentional community,
     family, neighborhood, town, workplace, congregation, activist
     group, or whatever you consider your “community”?
   * How does your community or group support mental well-being?
   * How do you help those who struggle with mental health issues?
   * Has your group dealt with mental health challenges or crises among
     your members? If so, what was the impact on the group?
   * What is your attitude toward the concept of mental illness? Where
     do normal mental or emotional distress or personality
     idiosyncrasies cross the boundary into illness?
   * How are your group’s attitudes toward mental health and illness
     similar to or different from mainstream attitudes? Do you prefer
     alternative approaches over medication?
   * Do individual or group ritual, indigenous shamanistic
     perspectives, or other practices or philosophies play into your
     approach to mental illness and health?
   * How would you compare the mental health of community members with
     that of people not in community?
   * Does intentional community attract those who are less able to stay
     mentally healthy in mainstream society?
   * Does intentional community keep people less insulated from one
     another’s challenges than in the wider culture? If so, do people
     have more “problems” in community, or are they simply more open
     about their problems?
   * Has community improved your mental health? Or eroded it?
   * Some mental health challenges may be obvious or extreme, others
     more difficult to recognize. Do you believe your group has the
     skills to identify more subtle mental health issues that may be
     affecting its members?
   * What kinds of outside support can help communities deal with
     mental health issues?
   * Does your group have a specific mission related to serving or
     incorporating those with mental health challenges?
   * Compared to conventional approaches, does community living allow a
     more holistic approach to supporting mental health?

Please remember that we are looking for stories, personal experiences, 
and concrete examples in your answers--these are what will make your 
ideas and observations most “real” and relevant to readers.

[Please forward this email to anyone you think has a good story on this 
theme for /Communities/.]

2. We are also seeking articles about:

   * Creating community in your neighborhood;
   * Starting a new community;
   * Process and communication issues in community; and
   * Seeking community to join.

Suggested submission length is from 300 to 2500 words. We invite 
submissions ranging from short vignettes to extensively-developed 
articles, and also invite suggestions of recommended resources and 
article leads. We’re seeking articles written in a reader-friendly, 
popular-magazine style, rather than in an academic style. We ask 
contributors to share stories and experiences, not just ideas; write 
about challenges, not just successes; and describe specific situations 
that will help your story come alive for the reader. Before you start 
writing, please check _http://communities.ic.org/submit.php_ or contact 
us for our full Writers’ Guidelines--and let us know your article idea 
so that we can give feedback on how it may fit into /Communities/. 
Contact Chris Roth at _editor [at] ic.org <mailto:editor [at] ic.org>_.

If you don’t want to write an article but want to submit photos, please 
check _http://communities.ic.org/submit.php_ or contact Yulia Zarubina 
at _layout [at] ic.org <mailto:layout [at] ic.org>_ for our Photo Guidelines.

*I. What *“*Submitting an Article*” *Means.* We will promise to read 
your article, but we may respectfully decline it and not publish it, or 
save it and publish it in a future issue. We also reserve the right to 
edit, shorten, or revise your article. Most of the time we contact 
authors about this ahead of time and get their comments, corrections, etc.

*II. Getting Permission Ahead of Time.* Please send the article only 
when you have permission from anyone you need it from, such as fellow 
community members. We endeavor to present a diversity of views on 
community, including controversial or critical views, in a respectful 
and cooperative manner. If your article may generate controversy or 
strong reactions, or if the group(s) would want the chance to review it, 
please share your draft with group members to get their input before 
sending it to us. (Please see our Writers’ Guidelines for additional 
details.)

*III. Publication Rights.* Once your article appears in /Communities/, 
we own first North American Publishing Rights. This means your article 
appears in /Communities/ the first time it appears in North America. In 
addition to appearing in /Communities/, your article may also appear on 
our website or in future compilations. You retain all other rights to 
it. If you’d like to use it elsewhere, you can, and we would appreciate 
your using an attribution line saying, “This article first appeared in 
/Communities: Life in Cooperative Culture/, (date); for further 
information on /Communities/: _communities.ic.org <http://www.ic.org/>_.”

*IV. Photos.* If we publish your article, we want to accompany it with 
compelling images that illustrate your subject. You know your subject 
best, so we are appealing to you for images. If others in your community 
or group like taking pictures, they might already have great images to 
go with your article. If you would like to submit an article but cannot 
supply photos, that’s fine; however, please give us plenty of advance 
notice so that if we use your article we can get an illustrator. Please 
check _http://communities.ic.org/submit.php_ or email us for our full 
Photo Guidelines. We also appreciate an author photo to accompany your 
short (several-line) author bio.

Thanks for your contributions!

Chris Roth
Editor, /Communities/
_editor [at] ic.org <mailto:editor [at] ic.org>_

--
Chris Roth
Editor, Communities
RR 1 Box 156
Rutledge MO 63563-9720 
editor [at] ic.org
660-883-5545
communities.ic.org

for Communities advertising,
please contact Tanya Carwyn:
ads [at] ic.org
828-669-0997

for photos and layout,
please contact Yulia Zarubina:
layout [at] ic.org
910-617-6136