Who Net provides a significant personal and social benefit by reducing the true cost to the system and patient of managing ill health and improving social integration and patient life quality. For the past five years, what has evolved into People Who Net has provided e mail list discussions to the community of people who use and provide mental health services. We've provided support, averted crises, changed bureaucracies and gained credibility. We have done this as a volunteer project, dependent on ourselves in-kind. Who Net has grown from a personal e mail message to 17 people to, by the end of 1998, a dozen volunteer administrators managing more than a score of lists and web pages.
Many visitors have low incomes and receive disability benefits.
Mental health service users so far have established consumer lists in 20 U S states. Who Net models the skills of leadership. We are building a base of Internet-literate people who are becoming mentors and trainers. Who Net lists have established an active Internet presence even beyond People Who Net by joining provider lists and news groups and writing from their own experience about mental health services. The root causes of the problems associated with being a Person Who are arguable and varied.