The Wiki-therapy program was pioneered at the Argostoli Mental Health Day Center in Kefalonia, Greece. The objective was to introduce individuals with socio-mental disorders to Wikipedia and its sister Wikimedia Projects, therefore encouraging them to acquire a sense of purpose and and self-esteem that they so desperately need to overcome their difficulties.

Rehabilitation of the mentally ill is a huge challenge for therapists. The main goal of this wiki project is to reintegrate persons with mental illnesses back to the community using Wikimedia project.

Loneliness and social isolation are tendencies that often come along with a diagnosed mental health disorder. Certain mental health patients have a high level of IQ (Intelligence Quotient) but they find it difficult to feel connected to other people. These feelings are frequently accompanied by lacking communication skills for meaningful interaction with others, so these individuals have a central concern about feeling alone, expecting to be rejected, devalued or discriminated against and thus they feel alienated as a function of an inability to establish or maintain relationships appropriately.

Others factors that we usually find in patients with mental disorders are a low sense of achievement, a negative learning emotion, a perception of inadequacy and a deep sense of emptiness without goals. These are the kind of people that we find in mental health hospitals.

By introducing mentally ill patients to the concept that ANYONE can contribute to the Wikimedia projects and share his or her knowledge, Wiki-therapy reduces their perception of loneliness and social isolation by helping them learn to edit the Wikimedia projects and become members of the wiki community.

The two start students of the program were Dimitris and Evangelia.

With a connate curiosity and passion for words, Dimitris practiced an unusual habit when reading books: he would stop randomly at a word in the text he was reading and look up the word in six different languages in his collection of dictionaries.Each book was counted as a new "cycle of work" and could output up to 300 words. The Center's psychiatrist was perplexed as to how this odd hobby could have any productive meaning. The answer was Wiktionary.. Dimitris was happy to learn that his favorite pastime was perfect for making valuable contributions to the free and open online dictionary of the Internet. Today D.V. is a regular editor who has entered over 1000 translations in fifteen languages. He also makes minor contributions on Greek Wikipedia by checking articles of his interest for typos and spelling/grammar mistakes. Moreover, he has spoken about his new “occupation” - as he calls it - at a public event in his hometown.

Middle school graduate Evangelia was particularly fond of uploading images with famous quotes on her Facebook page. It didn't take long for us to find her natural fit: Wikiquote. Soon enough E.K was looking up categories to find the right "home" for the latest quote she had singled out from her books, while also correcting mistakes and improving on contributions made by other users. Her contributions are even more special because Greek Wikiquote is a dormant project and often she was the sole contributor for days in a row. Evangelia was the most active contributor to Greek Wikiquote for all of 2016. This boosted her language skills and self-confidence enough for her to enroll in High School and continue studies in secondary education.

They have added value to the Wikimedia projects and in-turn Wikimedia projects have added value to their lives.

In Argentina, a program was started to re-integrate people with serious mental illnesses into the community by proposing them a goal to help improve their self-esteem and reduce their feeling of loneliness and social isolation by learning how to edit Wikiquote.

The main goal of this Wiki-project was to encourage patients at the hospital to create and increase the number of articles on Wikiquote in Spanish by enabling them to improve the quality of the content of famous phrases. The therapist designs several sessions for stimulating the intellect and increasing the social skills of the patients. The participants were inpatients of a mental hospital in Argentina.

Those patients who have been hospitalized or who are undergoing some type of outpatient treatment had here a space of assistance for editing and emotional contention. They were given small, manageable tasks on Wikiquote, after giving them individualized training on writing skills and grammar. They were then asked to add content to Wikiquote.

During the course, the patients developed digital literacy, writing, research skills and they learned to write with others, to accept revisions of their work and to interact with other community members. Patients developed a wide range of skills and abilities that help them gain confidence by feeling that they make a meaningful contribution to our society. It also increased their self-esteem or communication skills. Patients who previously used only social networks, although,they did not contact anyone, now feel proud to see their articles published in Wikiquote. The participants gave positive feedback about the therapy and their mental health improved after the Wikiquote sessions.

If you are interested in reproducing Wiki-therapy in your local are or you have any questions regarding the pilot, you can get in touch with Mina from Greece or Andrea from Argentina.