This post is designed to help us all become more aware of suicide and how we can do our bit to prevent it. If you are currently experiencing suicidal thoughts you can receive help and support through the following networks: https://www.samaritans.org/ https://www.supportline.org.uk/problems/suicide/ Suicide. It’s such a difficult thing to talk about. We might be used […]
Ten tips from Ten Years – A decade worth of mental health advice.
I am eleven years old and I have locked myself in the toilet. This is the place in the house where I do my most praying, my most crying, my most dissolving. I am too thin, I know I am. I know that I am chained up in my mind, but I do not know […]
I’ve lost weight. Don’t tell me I look good.
All my life, I’ve wanted to be skinny. I don’t remember a time where I did not feel too big, too fat, too much for the spaces I was being asked to occupy. The only times when I felt the right size, I was dangerously unhealthy. When I was eleven, and my eating disorder was […]
Are you lying about your success?
Two moments to consider. Moment one: I am sitting with friends in a coffee shop talking about managing mental health. I am speaking about how it is hard, how it is a journey and they say: “But you function.”“I do function,” I say. “I am functioning at the moment.” The second moment to consider. Moment […]
Abide
It’s a truth universally achknowledged that everyone really hates New Years Eve. At least, it is according to many, many online articles I have read this festive season. I am inclined to think they might be right. This is not necessarily my own opinion, but the amount of friends over the years who have told […]
All the leaves are brown – Changing seasons, changes to mental health.
The Leaves are turning. Children are going back to school in shiny new school shoes. The British skies are grey and blustery, or clear and crisp. Midi skirts are back. Autumn colours are coming around as fashion falls back on the old favourites – mustard chunky knits, jewel tones, leather and peter pan collars. Soon, […]
After Awareness – top tips for emotional self-care
So you spent last week retweeting mental health tweets and sharing articles about mental health awareness on your facebook page. You are an aware individual; you know people who have mental health problems and you’re prepared to break down the stigma piece by piece. You are mentally aware. But whilst you are ready to accept […]
Mental health awareness Week: So now you’re aware – what’s next?
For the past three years, I have written a blog post for mental health week. In those three years, much has changed. For me personally, but also in society. When I first started writing, I was a quiet voice raising awareness with the likes of mental health charities, who took to Twitter and social media to […]
When you can’t love your body #EDAW2018
Today I delivered one of the hardest assemblies of my career. I stood in front of 200 children under the age of eleven and told them that their bodies were great, that they shouldn’t listen to the voices in their heads that told them negative things about their bodies but instead should focus on the […]
Holding the keys – fear of untried territory
“Wouldn’t it be fun if all the castles in the air which we make could come true, and we could live in them? said Jo, after a little pause […] Wouldn’t I though? I’d have a stable full of Arabian steeds, rooms piled high with books, and I’d write out of a magic inkstand, so that […]
Artful Balancing 