BLOGVEMBER 2024 | DAY TWENTY | WRAPPING IT ALL UP!

ALL THINGS HALLOWEEN | PUMPKIN DESIGNS, DÉCOR INSPIRATION, & SPECIAL SNACKS & DRINKS RECIPES!

So, there’s already a blog post scheduled for Halloween Sunday, but I was scrolling through Pinterest for another project when it hit me that I hadn’t really done a blog post that was directly about Halloween… So, I thought I’d jam everything into this one! 

WHY I’M A FAN OF JUMPING IN AT THE DEEP END | MY DIGITAL MARKETING INTERNSHIP WITH DOCERE | LAUNCHING THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES PROJECT | AD

Since my first day (over a week ago!) of my Digital Marketing internship with Docere, I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a blog post about it because it’s become such a huge part of my life that I just obviously want to share it with you all. So, I’ve been trying to think of ways to… wangle it into I’m NOT Disordered, and the inspiration came when I talked about the internship with my Mum…


I first found the vacancy on the Indeed site and it was just one of those jobs where I applied… just for the hell of it to be honest! I thought I’d apply on the off chance that I’d get an interview and get some more experience in interviewing. I think that realistically, I didn’t believe I was in any way ready to work but it felt nice to feel like I was giving myself the opportunity. When I got an email from Docere and it began ‘we’d firstly like to apologize’ so I just sighed, but then I read on ‘for the delay in responding to your application…’ And I had a little cheer when I read that I’d been shortlisted for an interview! I’d applied for so many positions in one night that I had to look back through the job description on Indeed! When I discovered that it was one I was actually interested in so far as to that I wished I was ready to take it on.


Why did I decide to go for it?

BEST FRIENDS & MENTAL HEALTH

ps. i have so many pics with my besties that i decided to just include this one because I think it sums up friendship perfectly! 

With it recently being Best Friends Day, I was inspired to write this post all about why friendship is so important in mental health…


Growing up, I don’t think I ever paid much attention to my friendships, and that doesn’t mean I was isolated and didn’t have any. It was just that I wasn’t really conscious of the possibility that I could be friendless and that meant I wasn’t very appreciative of the fact that I had three best friends who I’d do everything with! 


I felt like this all through First School until we started Middle School and each of us found their own friendship groups. It seemed to be fairly natural and with us all being in different classes anyway it’s kind of just made sense that we’d find other friends who were in our class. A huge milestone and test in the group’s friendship came when one of my friends lost her mother very suddenly. Our other two friends had no real reaction – that I know of – but I (and my Mum!) were there for her and her family in a flash, and our friendship seemed to repair itself a little for the duration of Middle School.

WHITLEY BAY OPERATIC SOCIETY PRESENTS: LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL AT WHITLEY BAY PLAYHOUSE

At the Whitley Bay Christmas market last year (2018) I had the pleasure of meeting Steve Tawse, Secretary for the Whitley Bay Operatic Society while I was representing the Society selling tickets to their Legally Blonde show, set to begin May 1^st 2019. When I asked Steve about the chances of being allowed backstage to write a blog post, I was surprised – and chuffed! – to be given complimentary tickets to the show’s matinee on May 4th at Whitley Bay Playhouse!


Haven’t seen Legally Blonde?

Basically, it’s about a blonde girl called Elle Woods who is dumped for not being ‘serious’ enough, so she works her butt off and gets into Harvard Law School, where she hopes to win back her ex-boyfriend. Initially, everyone underestimates Elle and she struggles to fit in, and with her ex’s new girlfriend turning the other students against her she devotes herself to her studies and wins an internship with one of the Professors as he represents a fitness guru accused of murder. After her Professor hits on her, Elle manages to take over the entire court case and proves the client innocent.

ENRICH AWARDS | PRE-EVENT PROMO | 60 SECONDS WITH RICHMOND FELLOWSHIP'S HELEN EDWARDS

Today marks two days until the Richmond Fellowship Enrich awards 2019. I’m very proud to have been on the judging panel to shortlist all of the nominations and to now be co-chairing the entire ceremony as well as taking over the Richmond Fellowship Tyneside Twitter account!

To keep up with all of the goings on, follow #EnrichAwards on Twitter

Every day for the next week, there’ll be a new post of ‘60 seconds with…’ someone involved in the Awards. I hope you enjoy!

Name and Job Title:

Helen Edwards, Chair Richmond Fellowship and Recovery Focus 

How long have you been involved with Richmond Fellowship?

I’ve been Chair since April 2016.

What drew you to this role?

The work which Richmond Fellowship does and its good reputation.

ENRICH AWARDS | PRE-EVENT PROMO | 60 SECONDS WITH RICHMOND FELLOWSHIP'S SERVICE USER: AIMEE WILSON

Today marks three days until the Richmond Fellowship Enrich awards 2019. I’m very proud to have been on the judging panel to shortlist all of the nominations and to now be co-chairing the entire ceremony as well as taking over the Richmond Fellowship Tyneside Twitter account!

To keep up with all of the goings on, follow #EnrichAwards on Twitter

Every day for the next week, there’ll be a new post of ‘60 seconds with…’ someone involved in the Awards. I hope you enjoy!

Name and job title: 

Aimee Wilson, Working Together Committee member

How long have you been involved with Richmond Fellowship?

I’ve been a service user with Richmond Fellowship Tyneside since 2014 and joined the  Working Together Committee in 2018

What drew you to this role? 

ENRICH AWARDS | PRE-EVENT PROMO | 60 SECONDS WITH RICHMOND FELLOWSHIP'S CHIEF EXECUTIVE DEREK CAREN

Today marks four days until the Richmond Fellowship Enrich awards 2019. I’m very proud to have been on the judging panel to shortlist all of the nominations and to now be co-chairing the entire ceremony as well as taking over the Richmond Fellowship Tyneside Twitter account!

To keep up with all of the goings on, follow #EnrichAwards on Twitter

Every day for the next week, there’ll be a new post of ‘60 seconds with…’ someone involved in the Awards. I hope you enjoy!

Name and job title:

Derek Caren, Chief Executive

How long have you worked at Richmond Fellowship?

Six years.

What drew you to this role?

ENRICH AWARDS | PRE-EVENT PROMO | 60 SECONDS WITH RICHMOND FELLOWSHIP'S WILL FISHER

Today five days until the Richmond Fellowship Enrich awards 2019. I’m very proud to have been on the judging panel to shortlist all of the nominations and to now be co-chairing the entire ceremony as well as taking over the Richmond Fellowship Tyneside Twitter account!

To keep up with all of the goings on, follow #EnrichAwards on Twitter

Every day for the next week, there’ll be a new post of ‘60 seconds with…’ someone involved in the Awards. I hope you enjoy!

Name and job title:

Will Fisher, Senior Practitioner, Midlands Locality.

How long have you worked at Richmond Fellowship?

Five years.

What drew you to this role?

ENRICH AWARDS | PRE-EVENT PROMO | 60 SECONDS WITH RICHMOND FELLOWSHIP'S RACHEL PERKINS

Today marks six days until the Richmond Fellowship Enrich awards 2019. I’m very proud to have been on the judging panel to shortlist all of the nominations and to now be co-chairing the entire ceremony as well as taking over the Richmond Fellowship Tyneside Twitter account!

To keep up with all of the goings on, follow #EnrichAwards on Twitter

Every day for the next week, there’ll be a new post of ‘60 seconds with…’ someone involved in the Awards. I hope you enjoy!

Name and job title:

Rachel Perkins, Non-Executive Director and Chair of Working Together Committee

How long have you worked at Richmond Fellowship?

I joined the Recovery Focus Board last year

What drew you to this role?

I have done work in the past for Richmond Fellowship and was very impressed with what I saw – particularly the commitment to co-production across the organisation. So when I heard about the vacancy on the Board I jumped at the chance to apply.

ENRICH AWARDS | PRE-EVENT PROMO | 60 SECONDS WITH RICHMOND FELLOWSHIP'S TRACEY BELL

Today marks a week until the Richmond Fellowship Enrich awards 2019. I’m very proud to have been on the judging panel to shortlist all of the nominations and to now be co-chairing the entire ceremony as well as taking over the Richmond Fellowship Tyneside Twitter account!

To keep up with all of the goings on, follow #EnrichAwards on Twitter

Every day for the next week, there’ll be a new post of ‘60 seconds with…’ someone involved in the Awards. I hope you enjoy!

Name and job title: 
Tracey Bell Group Director of Performance, Quality and Innovation

How long have you worked at Richmond Fellowship?

15 months

What drew you to this role?

WHY I’M ALL ABOUT SELF-LOVING THIS VALENTINES DAY | FOUR TIPS TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL BETTER

I couldn’t decide what to write this post about; family relationships, friendships, or the absence of romantic relationships on a day when ‘romance is in the air.’ And then I came to the conclusion that an important factor in any kind of relationship is the one you have with yourself. When you don’t feel good in yourself then you’ll struggle to both maintain healthy relationships and create new ones.

1.       PUT ALL THE FEEL-GOODS ON

That includes feel-good music (mine is Keala Settle – This is Me from The Greatest Showman because it’s so empowering), a movie (Alice in Wonderland for its far-fetched storyline), and book (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald because I feel so accomplished finishing it in one day!). Filling your life with happy music, movies and books can provide for both a much-needed boost to your mood, or a welcome relief from reality. 

HAPPY SIXTH BIRTHDAY I'M NOT DISORDERED

To celebrate the SIXTH year of this wild journey with I'm NOT Disordered, here's a post with links and pics from the past year! 

And here's to many more posts, partnerships, collaborations, and Q&As!

But before we get into the flashback… here's what has been posted for the past five 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

YEAR FIVE: http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2018/01/happy-fifth-birthday-im-not-disordered.html

January 2018 saw a partnership with OliverBonas on their book: 52 Lists For Happiness, and a competition win that saw me partying with one of my Blogging idols; Victoria McGrath (InTheFrow), Alex Harrison, and Google Pixel.

HOW IT FEELS WHEN THE VOICES HAVE GONE

re·lief

[rəˈlēf]

NOUN

1.       a feeling of reassurance and relaxation following release from anxiety or distress.

2.       assistance, especially in the form of food, clothing, or money, given to those in special need or difficulty.

3.       a person or group of people replacing others who have been on duty.

4.       the state of being clearly visible or obvious due to being accentuated in some way

I don’t know if anyone can remember but I once wrote a post when I’d been struggling with auditory hallucinations and I talked about how it feels after I’ve taken Lorazepam and it kicks in and the voices go. I explained that before the medication it was as though there’d been stormy seas in my head and when the sedative had kicked in, the waves were calm and quiet, and everything was peaceful.

FOUR BEGINNINGS FOR FOUR YEARS IN MY FOREVER HOME

1.     Emmy

I guess that since Emmy is the most recent addition to the household it’s only fair that I talk about her first! I’ve talked a lot (here and here) about the cat I got when I moved in (Dolly) and how she recently passed away and the house was so… quiet without her. I don’t know if quiet’s the right word… When I use it, I don’t mind physically quiet; it’s not that Dolly used to meow a lot! More that there’s quiet from the loss of her presence. As much as I loved Dolly and recognized that getting her was a huge achievement and testament to my recovery, I don’t think I realized just how big a part of the home she was. When I’d go out or to events, I’d think about getting back home and looking back, I realize that it wasn’t so that I could be around my own things again; it was to be with my pets again! Getting Emmy has been a huge milestone in my recovery and my time in this house because for almost four years, Dolly was a part of that house. But it’s brilliant to get a whole new start again with Emmy and to see her learn – and teach her - new things, watch her explore the house (and ALL of its surfaces), find out her likes and dislikes and see her personality grow.

 

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!).

A FORTNIGHT WITH EMMY

Every day you’re here,

I’m healing

-       Clean Bandit: Symphony

I’ve found that a lot of I’m NOT Disordered readers don’t follow me on Twitter or Instagrarm (my Facebook is private) so not everyone has seen my many photos of Emmy since I wrote my post when I got her two weeks ago today: http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2018/10/readers-meet-emmy-wilson-willows-cat.html

Since October 15^th I haven’t had any thoughts to self-harm or heard any auditory hallucinations, so I feel like I’ve really been able to enjoy Emmy’s first few weeks here. I’ve actually been able to spend as much time with her as possible.

24HRS WITH... INSIDELIAMSHEAD BLOGGER & FREELANCE METRO UK REPORTER LIAM BAINES

24 hours with... Liam Baines – Blogger at insideliamshead, Freelance Reporter for Metro UK

Date: 01/10/2018

Why have you chosen to write about today? First day of the month, a fresh start!



Good morning!



What time did you wake up?

9am


Why did you wake up at that time?

I had a few things to sort out in the morning



Did you have a dream?

I had a dream! It involved the concert that I went to last Friday!

HOW TIME WITH FRIENDS CAN BENEFIT YOUR MENTAL HEALTH | SEATON DELEVAL HALL | NATIONAL TRUST | AD

Yup! Another National Trust trip/post!

This time was a bit different though! Rather than go with my family, I went with one of my best-friends (Ellie), her family, and her children (my God-Children). I was very fortunate to have been given a family pass for these special people and we decided to visit Seaton Deleval Hall during the Summer Holidays for one of their special week’s activities to not only celebrate the School Holidays but also, to highlight the eccentricity of the family who once lived in the Hall.