Hello and welcome to recommendation number twenty-two of Blogmas 2020 with I’m NOT Disordered!
Today, I’m pairing up with Listening Ear And Positive Support (LEAPS) Social Media Manager and Martin Baker from the blog Gum On My Shoe, to bring to you our favourite social media accounts.
We’re going to start with the Social Media Manager of the support group I Chair; LEAPS, who has created a list of ten favourite Twitter accounts…
Hello, I’m the Social Media Manager for LEAPS and I manage their Twitter Account. Aimee has asked me to write about 10 followers from the LEAPS Twitter for her Blogmas Series, but you could always look through our amazing followers and choose for yourself who to follow!
@leapsonline are a support group in the North East who offer help and support to anyone over the age of 18 and who are unwaged. We provide support with employment, interviews, training, benefits and mental health and we are funded by @TNLComFund.
The 10 twitter accounts are:
· @suit_ability – Is an unfunded service set up within the North East which supports unemployed men with access to FREE interview clothing that is donated to them from businesses and individuals.
· @SmartWorksNCL – Is a North East charity supporting local women back into work with access to Free interview clothing, coaching and confidence.
· @MaximiseL – Based in Sunderland they specialise in FREE online distance-learning courses and offer a learner-find service to colleges, further education providers and training companies.
· @peer_talk – offer peer support groups for those facing distress, Depression, Anxiety and related mental health conditions. They have weekly support sessions in the North East and other areas where people can offload, and they will be listened to and supported.
· @MindMovementuk – Lorna is based in the North East and is a registered Psychotherapist and yoga teacher working with the body in therapy and trauma sensitive yoga. Lorna has lots of Free helpful Youtube videos online.
· @HealonPurpose – Dan tweets amazing inspirational quotes on mental health and healing.
· @BrighterHypno – Rob helps people overcome stress, sleeplessness, phobias, addictions etc. through his FREE Youtube videos online.
· @SupremeCampaign – They create mental health and suicide prevention books, guides, and resources. They are advocate for better male mental health. Their work includes important mental health research alongside raising awareness of mental health issues among men, particularly self-harm and suicide. They also have a great Suicide Prevention Handbook out on Amazon.
· @evmindset – are passionate about promoting mental health in communities, schools and organisations. They also do community mental health and well-being programmes.
· @NewcastleHosps – is one of the most successful teaching NHS Trusts including Freeman Hospital, RVI and Great North Children’s Hospital. They provide up to date information on Covid 19 and general news etc.
In an ideal world Social Media should be ok but sadly it is a minefield, and I would advise that if you get bullied or trolled please report it as you will not only help yourself, but you will also help others to try and put a stop to it.
Next, Martin from the mental health blog Gum On My Shoe has put together a list of his favourite Twitter accounts:
· @PeterMcDonnell_ – In his own words, Peter McDonnell is “a mental illness ‘recoverer’.” In his he shares his journey and interests including “the recovery of health and all good things.”
· Amy’s Mystery Illness – Amy Cullis is a mental health and chronic illness blogger from the UK. They have a BSc (Hons) in Clinical and Health Psychology. Amy blogs at, contributes to The Mighty and has a keen interest in writing, politics, and equal rights; alongside music and photography.
· @JulieBipolar – Julie A. Fast is the bestselling author of Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder, Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder and Get it Done When You’re Depressed. She is a great friend to me and Fran, and hugely supportive of our work.
· @BekaLombardo – Rebecca Lombardo is a mental health author, blogger, podcaster, and advocate, author of It’s Not Your Journey, and creator of the #KeepTalkingMH hashtag. She hosts the weekly Voices for Change 2.0 podcast with her husband Joe.
· @StigmaFighters – Stigma Fighters is a mental health nonprofit which publishes essays from people living with mental illness. You can submit your story on the Stigma Fighters website.
· @bpHopeMag – bp Magazine is an award-winning quarterly mental health magazine (electronic and print) focusing on bipolar disorder.
· @CatchingHealth – Catching Health is a blog about health and wellness by award-winning health writer Diane Atwood. Diane interviewed me and Fran in 2015 for her podcast and blog.
· @RachelintheOC – I first connected with Rachel Thompson when Fran and I were working on our book. Her commitment to people telling their stories with passion and honesty is second to none and she remains a huge inspiration to me. An advocate for sexual abuse survivors, Rachel is the creator and founder of the hashtag #MondayBlogs and the weekly Twitter chats #SexAbuseChat and #BookMarketingChat.
· @RachelKellyNet – Rachel Kelly is a writer, speaker, mental health campaigner, and ambassador for Rethink Mental Illness, SANE, and The Counselling Foundation. She has been incredibly supportive to me and Fran and generously contributed the foreword to our book.
· @TheSarahFader – Sarah Fader is a huge inspiration to me. She has guested on our blog several times and interviewed me and Fran for her podcast. By accepting my story for the Stigma Fighters blog and later publishing it in their second anthology, Sarah gave me the confidence to believe I have something worth sharing and the courage to do so.
Finally, my turn! I decided to pick eight organisation’s Twitter accounts because I didn’t want to include personal ones in case anyone felt missed out and forgotten…
· @CatsProtection & @CPMediaTeam – Being such a huge cat lover (you can read more about the cat I have now; Emmy, here), how could I not choose a cat-oriented organization like Cats Protection (and their Media Team)?! I’ve been working with Cats Protection for almost two years now (you can read our very first collaboration post here) and I have never stopped being awe struck by their dedication to their cause. The Team are constantly putting so much time and effort into their work and their campaigning for cat welfare. I would put a little warning that there’s sometimes some really upsetting stories of cats not being taken care of, but the stories always end on a happy note and are testament to the love and kindness Cats Protection constantly demonstrate.
· @CNTWNHS – Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust oversee all of the psychiatric services in my locality. They are one of the UK’s largest mental health trusts and oversee services including the Crisis Team, the Psychiatric Liaison Team who are based in our A&E and local medical hospitals, inpatient facilities, and so much more! Of course, I’d give them a huge amount of credit for my mental health recovery! When I first became poorly in 2009, they had little to no services specialising in my diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD); but now? The staff are so much more equipped and therefore better placed at helping and supporting someone with BPD.
· @northumbriapol – my local Police force – Northumbria Police, used to be the least helpful organization to be involved in a mental health crisis, and yet – primarily because of the restricted funding for psychiatric services – they were being called to one so often! In 2009 – when my mental health first deteriorated – I made my first suicide attempt and after running from the medical hospital, I was detained by some lovely (not being sarcastic!) Officers under section 136 of the 1983 Mental Health Act. It wasn’t until my second attempt that I experienced rudeness from an Officer and from then on, it felt as though I was believed to be an inconvenient, attention-seeking, waste of time for the entire Force. From where I was standing, none of the Officers bothered to even try to understand what was going on for me. For a lot of them though, responding to a mental health crisis or suicide attempt wasn’t why they’d joined the Police. Now, I think my local force has come to accept their inclusion in these callouts and have realised that changes were needed to improve their response. And it’s been an honour to have been a part of that change in helping to facilitate mental health training sessions.
· @LaunchpadNT – the North Tyneside branch of Launchpad are a user led group who promote the voices of those affected by mental health difficulties in the locality. For World Mental Health Day (WMHD) 2019 I was very honoured to have been asked by them to give a speech at their event. Then, with the UK Lockdown regulations this year, Launchpad asked me to brainstorm alternative celebrations for WMHD 2020. And when the planning group agreed upon encouraging the public to do mindful walks and send in their photos and videos, I was given responsibility to take charge of the social media – which involved creating and maintaining a Facebook page which became the platform for people to share their walks. I also managed to secure a little video/stand-up from the incredible Comedian; Dave Chawner! Days after the Day, Launchpad very kindly sent me a card to thank me for my hard work and saying that they couldn’t have done the day without me!
· @stoswaldsuk – I was due to begin volunteering with the Communications Team of St Oswald’s Hospice just before the first UK Lockdown and the regulations put my starting date on hold. So, instead, the Comms Team gave me tasks to do from home and I really enjoyed having the opportunity to keep busy and to feel useful. I think that’s been a huge difficult feeling to cope with – feeling useless – around this entire situation. And then having the staff on the Team recognize my effort and give me positive feedback on my work for them, really made me happy and I felt much more positive and worthy of my place in the world!
· @rfmentalhealth – I’ve been under the care of Richmond Fellowship since 2014 when I was first discharged from the Personality Disorder specialist psychiatric hospital. I was referred to them because I’d spent two and a half years in hospital and so I was used to having staff support 24/7, and everyone knew that meant I couldn’t just go straight into the community with no professionals around me. Whilst my actual named Support Worker has inevitably changed dozens of times over the past six years, I’ve never felt unsupported by them. My gratitude for their care, has been one motivation for me to end up working with their teams at Head Office on events and conferences, as well as joining their Working Together Committee.
· @BTP – After a sort of run-in with a British Transport Police Officer, when a drunk passenger got aggressive and abusive toward me and the Train Guard, he kept in touch with me and we both managed to organize for me to visit their office in my local train station to deliver training. I created a PowerPoint on the subject of Suicide Awareness because I recognize that’s probably the area of mental health which BTP are most often involved in. And it’s definitely something where I think their response is so important and vital to that suicidal person’s mental health, that there might always be room for improvement for them. I got such a good response from the training and it really encouraged me to see a Police force be passionate about mental health and care about learning more and recognizing that doing so, heightens their ability to help.
· @NEAmbulance – North East Ambulance Service are yet another organisation to have saved my life on the many times when I didn’t want it saving. I honestly can’t think of any but one instance where the Paramedics were disrespectful, discriminatory, or rude. And whilst that’s most definitely the way things should be; when I was first poorly in 2009, it wasn’t always the case. So being treat with respect and no judgement, was something to be appreciative of and grateful for.