The #AskSelene31Something advice series

[Selene310187]

The hashtag stands for my deepest wish to help people with matters concerning mental health and the life with neurodivergent/neurodiverse conditions - be it for example Autism or ADHD/ADD (see the board's glossary for more info). No, I'm not a psychologist. I'm just an "old" girl that experienced things in her life that nobody shouldn't have. If you want to know my story, you can find a summary here. I developed strategies to cope. Some did work, some did not. Since I got my first diagnosis in 2010, which was depression, I searched the internet to understand myself better. I don't call me an expert but I want to pass on the knowledge I gathered, to help others to understand themselves better, too.

I invite you to ask me any question related to mental health and neurodivergent/neurodiverse conditions.

If you want to know how my words of advice can look like, here's an example:

Hey Selene, should I disclose my diagnosis or not?


You can send me your question by:

• commenting below the article on Selene's Shadow Realm (you don't need an account for doing this)
• posting here in this thread on the Spectrum (combine it with the hide BBCode to feel more comfortable)
• using the contact form on Modding on the Spectrum if you want an extra portion of discreetness
• writing me a personal message on Nexus Mods

Should you choose the third or the fourth option, please put the "#AskSelene31Something" hashtag at the beginning of the subject (or the message body) so I can distinguish your message from the other messages better.

Please understand that I cannot answer your questions right away due to my limited amount of free time and the other stuff in my pipeline of projects. I will collect the questions instead to build up a pool. From time to time, I pick something from this pool - maybe combine it with another question (when I think they fit well together) - and write about the picked subject in the Neurodiversity hub on Modding on Spectrum. All answered question are marked with the #AskSelene31Something hashtag* so they can easily be found.

But if you currently experience a crisis and can't wait for an answer, please call for example the crisis line. I mentioned more places to go in the Mental health first aid kit.


Because I'm not a professional, my words of advice don't replace psychological treatments and therapies.


Edit:

I'm well aware that these subjects are very personal ones and it takes courage to entrust them to a stranger like me. It's very likely that I'm a stranger to you. Or maybe you think that I'm not qualified enough to be a adviser. But if you ask me, you don't need to be a professional to be able to help a person. How often do you ask a good friend and the members of your family for advice regarding your very own problems? I admit, problems related to mental health and neurodiversity are a bit different. You don't have to call a spade a spade. It often does help when you talk about the limitations that you have (e.g. sensitivity to noise).

It can take some time that I build enough trust that you can entrust yourself to me and I give you the time. My offer to be your "agony aunt" still stands.

Until then I use the pool of my own questions to fill the advice series .




* Yes, we have hashtags now

Code: [hashtag]your tag[/hashtag] (the # will be set automatically in front of the tag)

If you click on the hashtag, the forum search will be executed listing all posts which match the hashtag.

[Selene310187]

I enabled the forum search function for guests. This feature is needed to make the hashtags work.

[Selene310187]

Edit 2:
I forgot to mention that I sometimes post mental health related topics on Selene's Shadow Realm. No, it's not like the advice series. I just want to talk about my own experiences without giving a direct advice (I already do this on Modding on the Spectrum).


Edit:
What I wrote below the horizontal line is now part of the first post as well for the sake of completeness.

I'm well aware that these subjects are very personal ones and it takes courage to entrust them to a stranger like me. It's very likely that I'm a stranger to you. Or maybe you think that I'm not qualified enough to be a adviser. But if you ask me, you don't need to be a professional to be able to help a person. How often do you ask a good friend and the members of your family for advice regarding your very own problems? I admit, problems related to mental health and neurodiversity are a bit different. You don't have to call a spade a spade. It often does help when you talk about the limitations that you have (e.g. sensitivity to noise).

It can take some time that I build enough trust that you can entrust yourself to me and I give you the time. My offer still stands.

Until then I use the pool of my own questions to fill the advice series .

[Selene310187]

Why I haven't thought of personal messages as a way to contact me regarding your problems? You can send me one on Nexus Mods. Don't forget to include the #AskSelene31Something hashtag in your message
(at the beginning of the subject or the message body)