Intro Reel
Melissa: I have alternate personalities.
Skittle: It’s really funny!
Melissa: But what if none of this is real?
Unknown: She doesn’t even like me!
Melissa: Where was I when that happened?
Melissa: SNAP back to it, man. Snap back to it.
SpitFire: Can she just get out of my face?!
Skittle: I want to watch a cartoon!
Melissa: What if I’m not real?
End Intro Reel
I’m Melissa and I have Dissociative Identity Disorder. Along with my Headmates, we make up what we call The Bag System. While I never would have believed a few years ago that we could be working together towards a common goal, today, we are the founder and president of a nonprofit organization that assists those with trauma and dissociative disorders.
The org is named, “Multiplied By One,” and we have been working towards this project in one way or another for 2 years. The name comes from the fact that no matter what number that is multiplied by one, it will always be the same number. Just like one person may have many parts, they can also be one, or whole, in functional multiplicity, or for those who choose it; fusion.
In this episode, we go over not only what Multiplied By One org will offer, but we will outline what this was for us and our journey to where we are today.
If you give us a listen and you want to find out more, you can find us over at thebagsystem.com
Find our public Discord link in the description of this episode, as well as a link to our Patreon where our work can be supported.
When you feel that we’ve earned those stars, consider a moment to leave us a rating and review, wherever you listen.
There were moments in the first year of this endeavour, very discouraged ones, where I was sure we would be forced to give up and fail. My goal was an app for assisting communication in Dissociative Identity disorder, or OSDD systems. Another goal was a helpline for dissociative disorders. While just starting out, both were not achievable, so we powered up our research mode on how we could make the app happen.
A suggestion was to build the app with a team of volunteers and to have the code added to a public repository. This sounded like a fantastic plan, but locating volunteers was not so simple. We finally found a concept called Tech for Good and posted our story and where to contact us. Since then, the app is in development, even by student devs working for points toward school.
We are the concept creator, designer, and project manager. We also took it on ourself to ensure the app is and remains free to use and without ads. One way of ensuring this, I realized, was to turn this project for social good into a registered nonprofit, which would secure its future.
Like I said a moment ago, I nearly gave up when I thought that every stone was turned and there were no more options. We kept at it and didn’t accept giving up and giving in. I’m so glad that we strove to succeed, because the app is on its way to beta testing and the community of systems eager for this app to go live is growing. We could not get to where we are without the support of those who believed in us and our project.
While driven to bring a change for those with dissociative disorders, to add to the available programs and services, and to reduce stigma by giving us support and equality in consideration, we worked tirelessly with pleasant results.
We planned for services that we felt would be valuable to the community of not only those with dissociative disorders, but to educate the general public or provide resources. Multiplied By One will be offering online virtual support groups, an eMagazine on PTSD and dissociative disorders, a web app for DID/OSDD systems, and eventually, also a helpline, as was the plan years ago.
To be notified of when our programs are available, add your email to the form on multipliedbyone.org.
We are setting up fundraisers and are seeking grants to provide the resources needed to best fund these programs and to bring down the cost of memberships. We also hope to offer payment to the app developers as a way to encourage them for their hard work.
If you are listening to this episode and are interested in the org, and wondering how you can help, I’d love to lay out a few options for you.
One is that if you are a developer, or know one who works with JavaScript and have some free time to give, we would love to see you drop into the developer Discord server that is linked on the app page of the org website.
Another is to share the link to the site with whoever you feel may benefit, or to someone like a therapist or psychiatrist who may want to pass out the resource to patients.
Thirdly, sign up to the newsletter on multipliedbyone.org where you can be kept up to date on ways to contribute, or learn about our programs as they are released.
Of course, there is also the option to donate. We have a donate button in the navigation bar of the site. Or, if you have a skill to donate your time with, we would be pleased to have you contact us with the submission form.
We are making this a short episode to simply get the message out and hope that those in need will hear or pass it on to those who do.
The link to the org is in the description of this episode. You can find the video of the app mockup by visiting the App tab in the menu bar.
The Bag System podcast will be providing updates on the org in most, if not all upcoming episodes. We plan on giving a quick 30 seconds to a minute blurb about Multiplied By One, it’s services, and where to find it. The rest of our podcast remains the same in connecting with our inner self, and with our listeners.
If you have any hopes for an upcoming episode, leave us a comment on thebagsystem.com or drop into our public Discord server.