DEAR SERVICES, FIVE THINGS YOUR SERVICE USERS NEED TO KNOW

1.       Exactly what their care plan entails

Whether one organization is the service users entire support system or they’re part of a wider network, a lot of trust and faith go into their relationship. Not knowing what to expect from the service and from their allocated worker can be confusing and misleading, making things open for misinterpretation and assumption. Formulating a care plan is one of the most important steps for a service user to begin to trust in a service; it confirms that they’re considering your needs and requirements and are tailoring your care to fit with these. Allowing a service user, the opportunity to have some input into this process is reassuring and rewarding. 

BEEN IN EMERGENCY CARE DURING A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS? NORTHUMBRIA HEALTHCARE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST WANT YOUR FEEDBACK!! | AD

I’m honoured to have been asked to tell you all about this fantastic opportunity (which I have been a part of):

TIME TO TALK DAY 2019 ... WITH GUESTS!!

Happy Time To Talk Day!

https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/get-involved/timetotalkday2019 

For Time To Talk Day 2019 I spoke to a number of individuals and got their thoughts on the benefits of talking about mental health…

@Meandmymhmatter, Blogger at Me and My Mental Health Matters 

Talking about mental health helps people feel less alone and less isolated. Sharing my story not only helps others but it helps my feel less ashamed of myself. Also, it helps break down the stigma surrounding mental health and shows people that it can happen to anyone.

Charlotte Underwood, Author and Blogger 

RICHMOND FELLOWSHIP WORKING TOGETHER FORUM | EVENT POST | AD

I was so proud to be asked to join the planning Committee for the Working Together Forum this year and when the position came up to Chair the entire event, I jumped at the chance!

The more work I do with a particular organization, the more eager I am to take on more responsibilities and bigger opportunities.  I guess I see it almost like most work where there’s a promotion in sight and like many things in my blogging career, I’ve had to discover and sort of, decide for myself, what this means. What a ‘promotion’ means to me. What I’d class as a ‘step up;’ and chairing an entire event for such a wonderful, supportive, and inspirational organization like Richmond Fellowship (RF), seemed like the right role to do just that. And as I did last year, I also agreed to co-facilitate a workshop with the awesome Emily Dell from the RF Communications team (more on that later!).

LAUNCHING NTW'S ADULT MENTAL HEALTH NETWORK | AD

Another Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (NTW) event!

The run up to this one was a little bit… well the staff called it ‘woolly.’ Apparently, that was on purpose because the entire event was to launch the brand-new Adult Mental Health Network and with it being such a unique and one-of-a-kind venture, there’s no real model or guide on what it should look like.

The launch event centred around bringing together a huge variety of people from a selection of charities and organisations what ranged from Age UK to Carers Northumberland to representatives of the RESPOND training. Immediately, the atmosphere was incredible – you get so many events where people are there because their manager has asked them to be and you can feel a reluctance and pressure there… At this event though, there was a clear feeling of everyone being there because they wanted to and that they actually wanted to learn.

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK 2018 WITH I'M NOT DISORDERED | POST FOUR | HOW DO YOU COPE WITH STRESS?

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week

How do you cope with stress?

@loydall_stefan

I manage stress by going for walks around places I have never been so it occupies my mind when I get a little lost

@RichSpecials

I manage stress by talking to my family who are able to give me advice & a different view on things








anonymous
I confide in friends

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK 2018 WITH I'M NOT DISORDERED | INTRO/WHAT TO EXPECT

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week

Welcome to Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) 2018 with I’m NOT Disordered!

This year, the focus of MHAW is stress, so for every day this week (14^th – 20^th May) there’ll be a post on this topic!

I’ve been toying with the idea of whether to tell you all what to expect from I’m NOT Disordered during this time, and whether to keep it a total secret and let you see day by day… But I couldn’t face publishing a post so short!

RICHMOND FELLOWSHIP WORKING TOGETHER FORUM | #RFWORKINGTOGETHERFORUM | AD

Not too long ago the Manager of my local Richmond Fellowship got in touch with me and asked if I’d like to Chair the upcoming WorkingTogether Forum. Having co-chaired the previous one, I was confident with the idea and agreed. They then told me that I’d again be co-chairing but when it came to the day the co-chair got ‘stage fright’ and I was left to chair the entire event! In addition to this, two days before the event, a group delivering one of the four workshops dropped out and I offered to help run the stand-in workshop which, we basically invented in 48 hours! So, I had many roles in this event and yes, it was stressful; but it was a nice-productive-lots-of-responsibilities-kind-of stress!

I'M NOT DISORDERED TAKES PART IN THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD RESEARCH STUDY | AD

The University of Sheffield have developed a questionnaire called ReQoL (Recovering Quality of Life) to help understand feelings and monitor the progress of recovery and quality of life for people who have different mental health conditions.

The research is being carried out by the University of Sheffield and is funded by the Department of Health.

It involves a quick (5-10 minutes) multiple choice questionnaire that does not affect your care.

For more information on the study please contact Dr Anju Keetharuth at the University of Sheffield by email at reqol@sheffield.ac.uk or by telephone on: 0114 222 0884

You can also read about the findings of the study and more details on the website: http://www.reqol.org.uk

NATIONAL SERVICE USER AWARDS 2018 | #NSUA2018

[Note to see who won each category; follow #NSUA2018 on Twitter!]

I remember when I was in Cygnet Hospital Bierley and they first mentioned the National ServiceUser Awards (NSUAs) and I couldn’t have been more interested! It was only the second time that Cygnet Healthcare had hosted the NSUAs and so there wasn’t much experience or knowledge when it came to the invitations I was involved – and by that I mean that I hand-made every single one!

The following year, I attended as a finalist alongside YoungMinds in one of the categories and we won!

So, this year, when I got told that I could have a spot doing the social media for the 2018 NSUAs I was over the moon and very excited! After many talks I was finally named the Event Blogger and then the Head of Social Media took poorly on the actual day of the Awards, I stepped up and attempted to fill his shoes with a barrage of tweets (each with the #NSUA2018 hashtag!).

TALKING ALL THINGS MENTAL HEALTH WITH NORTHUMBRIA POLICE MENTAL HEALTH LEAD, INSPECTOR STEVE BAKER | WHILST BUILDING A LEGO POLICE CAR!! #TIMETOTALK

#TimeToTalk

TALKING ALL THINGS MENTAL HEALTH WITH NORTHUMBRIA POLICE MENTAL HEALTH LEAD, INSPECTOR STEVE BAKER | WHILST BUILDING A LEGO POLICE CAR!!

Tiny little ad here: my jumper and one of my bracelets were kindly gifted to me by the wonderful Oliver Bonas:

https://www.oliverbonas.com/

https://twitter.com/oliverbonas

https://www.facebook.com/oliverbonas

TIME TO TALK DAY WITH I'M NOT DISORDERED | PART THREE

TALKING ALL THINGS MENTAL HEALTH WITH (my ex) OUT OF AREA TREATMENT CASE MANAGER, JANICE O'HARE

HAPPY FIFTH BIRTHDAY I'M NOT DISORDERED | A YEAR IN IMAGES

'The best things in life are the people we love, the places we've been, and the memories we've made along the way'

To celebrate the FIFTH year of I'm NOT Disordered being a part of mine, and so many other people's, life; here's a look back on the past year of this wild journey that's seen almost 100,000 new readers! Here's to many more posts, partnerships, collaborations, and Q&As ;)

But before we get into the photos, here's what has been posted for the past four Birthdays:

YEAR ONE: http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2014/01/happy-first-birthday-im-not-disordered.html

YEAR TWO: http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2015/01/happy-second-birthday-im-not-disordered.html

YEAR THREE: http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2016/01/happy-third-birthday-im-not-disordered.html

YEAR FOUR: http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2017/01/happy-fourth-birthday-im-not-disordered.html

And here's YEAR FIVE:

January 2017

The year began with a post to celebrate New Year and my engagement to Ronnie; as well as I’m NOT Disordered’s Fourth Birthday & a collaboration with Time To Change for #TimeToTalk Day.

WHAT I GOT FOR CHRISTMAS 2017

  Photographys: RJ Photography

As you’ll have seen from my post ‘ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS… YOU GUYS’ I was a little hesitant about Christmas this year. Last Boxing Day we lost the family cat suddenly and so I was a little concerned that it might be difficult to get into the Christmas spirit, but it was surprisingly easy to allow myself to enjoy the Holidays.

A ROUND UP | 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH I'M NOT DISORDERED

To finally conclude the series ’12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH I’M NOT DISORDERED;’ I'd like to thank everyone who took part and opened up (in some cases) their personal lives for the enjoyment of others. Now, grab a glass of Bailey's & put on your new PJs; here’s a quick run-down of all eleven (I wrote the first one!) pieces and my favourite answers from each

#NURSINGANDCOPRODUCTION WITH CYGNET HEALTHCARE | AD

I was honoured, this week, to attend another Cygnet Healthcare event: ‘Cygnet Nursing Conference: IsCo-production the answer to reducing restrictive practice?’

Being invited to conferences, I like to make sure that I:

1. Understand the topic,

2. Have an interest in the topic, and

3. It will be relevant to readers.

When friends and family were asking what the event was about, I simplified it (not to sound patronising or condescending) with ‘talking about how working together can result in less restraints and forced medications and things(!).’ Number one? Check!

Co-production is the buzz word of the mental health industry right now; professionals are all promoting working alongside service users to create; a better experience of services, a safer environment, and a better understanding.  My personal experience of mental health services (as a whole) has been that staff would tell service users the rules and there were ‘punishments’ when they weren’t 100% adhered to. As my mental health improved, I began to see that what would be easier, is to work together; there could be no understanding without equality. Number two? Check!

The conference was centred around mental health. Number three? Check!

It was an early start - as most events/conferences are – but refreshments in the registration room and Rafik(Raf) Hamaizia’s cheerful, and positive Welcome speech seemed to have everyone eager for the day ahead!