EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MAKING A COMPLAINT

“At times it is what we do not say, or not saying a thing, that says a lot about us.”

Mokokoma Mokhonoana

I actually really struggled to find a quote for this post, and it made me worry that it was because it’s a really negative topic – complaining – and that made me worry that perhaps it’s something that really shouldn’t be the centre of an entire blog post… If you know me as a Blogger, then you’ll know that I’m all about being honest and keeping things real; and so, inspired by a previous post (which you can read here) this feels like a subject I should cover because – let’s be honest – it’s no great rarity for professionals (not exclusively psychiatric staff) to be in the wrong in some way; especially when it comes to a mental health related situation…

EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW | MY FAQ’S

It would probably come as no surprise – given you can see my number of readers (those numbers on the right hand side) – to tell you that I get a vast number of emails and messages across my social media every day. In all honesty, when it first escalated, I would stress myself out trying to give an efficient, speedy response to absolutely everyone. I pressured myself and thought that if all these people had taken the time it sit down and write a message for me, the least I could do was reply! I noticed this mindset wasn’t helpful for my mental health and decided that I would acknowledge the emails and occasionally give a brief response where necessary. But I soon got the distinct impression that I was repeating myself. A lot. So, here are my answers to my more frequently asked questions…

Mental Health:

What’s your diagnosis?

I was firstly diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in 2009 and then I had a secondary (though recently it has become primary) diagnosis of Transient Psychosis. 

You can learn more about BPD: https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/borderline-personality-disorder/diagnosis/

And Transient Psychosis: https://www.dynamed.com/condition/brief-psychotic-disorder

Why do you have hallucinations?

So, initially my auditory and visual hallucinations were defined as being caused my the traumas I have experienced. The thought some professionals had was that since I disassociated during the abuse, maybe I’d kind of separated parts of myself off and they had formed the individual voices I used to hear. Then, the visual hallucinations which were primarily of rabbits, were thought to have been caused by the fact that when I was little I had two rabbits who killed their babies.

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):

THE THREE BIGGEST TRUTHS IN MENTAL HEALTH

Ok; so, I don’t want to patronize some people with this post but let’s be realistic: there are people out there who will be surprised by these three truths about mental health! And they aren’t all linked to people with stigmatized views, sometimes it can be that a person is simply uneducated in or misunderstanding of mental health. Or perhaps a person simply doesn’t have the insight into mental health that is needed to know these truths. At the same time, I hope that people with an awareness of mental health might still be surprised at some of these!

1.       It’s always ‘us’ and ‘them’

A RETURN VISIT TO CATS PROTECTION TYNESIDE ADOPTION CENTRE | IN COLLABORATION WITH CATS PROTECTION | AD

On December 18^th I was lucky enough to be invited to Cats Protection Tyneside Adoption Centre again! I was originally scheduled to go for ‘Vet Day’ but unfortunately it was changed because of Christmas. This didn’t mean I was going to pass up the chance of more cat cuddles though! And of course, another excuse to chat to the incredible and inspiring staff that work and volunteer at the Centre, so I was more than chuffed when a few of them asked to feature their own cats as part of the ‘12 Cats of Christmas’ series.

MY VISIT TO CATS PROTECTION TYNESIDE ADOPTION CENTRE | IN COLLABORATION WITH CATS PROTECTION | AD

If you missed the announcement on my social media, for Christmas this year, I`ll be collaborating with Cats Protection on a Christmassy series of posts for the 12 days of Christmas (more info December 13th). And I was lucky enough to be invited to the Cats Protection Tyneside Adoption Centre for a private tour and the opportunity to meet some of their cats and kittens.

The branch’s Customer Engagement Advisor; Chris, took me to all of the different rooms first, to see where they do the food, water and – in my opinion, the worst job ever! – clean the litter trays. I thought it really exceptional that they consider cross contamination so highly that they go our of their way to ensure there’s no mass outbreak of any illnesses. It was obvious from the outset that the staff and volunteers have an abundance of knowledge on cats and are really, very well equipped at caring for them.

TOP FIVE NOTEBOOKS THAT MAKE FOR WRITING INSPIRATION | FUTURE LEARN DISCOUNT CODE | AD

So I recently had a massive overhaul of my wardrobe and it spurred me on to sort through everything on the shelf under the coffee table. That shelf is like the ‘bottom drawer’ people talk about where you find random things and they just all go in that one place. Anyway! There was a ton of notebooks and organizers under there that weren’t being used and – I believed – weren’t going to be used. So of course, I threw out the lot and promptly started an online course with Future Learn! Going notebook shopping for taking notes on this new course inspired this post… I thought I’d take the opportunity to talk about my favourite five notebooks, and the writing inspiration they bring:

‘MAKE TODAY GREAT’

https://www.paperchase.com/en_gb/gifts/gifts-for/stationery-lovers/moglea-make-today-great-lined-notebook.html

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!).

SO YOU WANT TO BE A MENTAL HEALTH BLOGGER?

Are you ready to…

feel like a failure?

There are times where I’ve felt like a failure to my readers. When I’ve had hard days – particularly during my relapse - I felt that I’d let everyone down by being poorly again. I thought I’d been the poster child for mental health recovery and now, here I was, illustrating that even the strongest of recovery’s doesn’t last. No matter how long you go without self-harming or hearing voices, you can still be just as vulnerable as you were when those things were happening.  But feeling like that, made me realize that others might experience that too and might find – just as I would – the knowledge that they aren’t alone, reassuring. 

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!

24HRS WITH... EMMA THOMAS, GENERAL MANAGER OF NATIONAL TRUST SITE: SEATON DELAVAL HALL | NATIONAL TRUST

24 hours with... Emma Thomas, General Manager, Seaton Delaval Hall

Date: 7 August

Why have you chosen to write about today?

It’s the Seaton Delaval Hall staff and volunteer Bake Off today and hopefully a busy day with lots of visitors enjoying the hall and gardens and taking part in our illusion themed week of family activities.



The Bake Off today is the return match, when staff bake, and volunteers judge. At the start of the summer, volunteers baked and staff judged. It’s organised by 1 of our volunteers and always good fun.


Good morning!

24HRS WITH... NORTH EAST AMBULANCE SERVICE CEO; YVONNE ORMSTON

24 hours with... North East Ambulance Service CEO; Yvonne Ormston

Why have you chosen to write about today?

_{Ok here goes. This is the day that I have chosen to blog about after being asked to by Aimee. Why me? I can’t think people would be particularly interested in the day in the life of an NHS CEO, especially this one, but who knows? If there is something useful then hopefully it will inspire someone, somewhere about something!!}


Good morning!



What time did you wake up?

_{Alarm goes off at 5.45 am}


Why did you wake up at that time?

_{A little earlier than my usual 6.30. Today I’m off to London}

24HRS WITH... 'COLITIS COP' - CUSTODY SERGEANT ED ROWLAND

_{24 hours with... Ed Rowland, Custody Sergeant, living & working with an Ileostomy}

_{Date: A Thursday in July}

_{Why have you chosen to write about today? It’s random and combines both my personal and work life.}

_{Good morning!}

_{What time did you wake up?}

_{7am - I was on lates last night so late to bed, my wife, Kate, who is also in the Police is on earlies, so she wakes me before she leaves so I can look after our 2yr old, Maggie....daddy daughter days are some of the best days now.} 

EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNT CODE!!! | THREE FUTURELEARN COURSES I'D RECOMMEND | FUTURELEARN | AD

I'm beyond excited to offer you all a discount code of 15% off a* FutureLearn course!

*this code only applies to courses that are available to upgrade and not for degree's or paid-for courses

Aimee_Wilson_15

(This code will only be available for the first 80 people to use it!)

For the Writer:

1.     Start Writing Fiction

This course eight-week course is developed by the Open University and you’re advised to spend three hours a week on it. It’s also completely FREE but for £42 you can ‘upgrade’ to have unlimited access (which means there’s no eight-week limit) and a certificate. In this course you will hear from established writers who will talk about how they first began writing, and you’ll learn how to keep a journal and use it as a tool to develop your ideas and document your inspiration.

24HRS WITH... CHIEF INSPECTOR STEVE HAILS | NORTHUMBRIA POLICE

.

24 hours with... Chief Inspector Steve Hails, Northumbria Police

Date: Monday 30th July 2018

Why have you chosen to write about today? Today is my first day back to work following a week on leave.

Good morning!

What time did you wake up? 

05:00

Why did you wake up at that time? 

I always wake up early but at the moment seem to be waking up earlier.  

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.

APPEARING ON KOAST RADIO (106.6 FM) | AD

On Tuesday July 3^rd I’ll be paying a visit to the Koast radio station! Tune in to find out more – 1pm on 106.6 FM!

Follow Koast Radio on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/KoastRadio

MY LIFE IN NINE iZOMBIE QUOTES

So, last year, I was facilitating a course in ‘Recovery Through Blogging’ at the local Recovery College and the ice breaker for the group was to talk about your favourite movie or TV show. The entire class had told us their favourite movie and then we got to one girl and she said ‘I’m going to be a bit different then and talk about my favourite TV show from Netflix.’ When she said iZombie was from Netflix, I got interested; having just signed up to the incredible service myself, I’d been in search of new shows and movies. She told us that the show was about a girl who was a Zombie but she solved the murders of the people’s brains she ate. I’m into gory things like that so when I got home I added it to ‘My List’ on Netflix and ended up forgetting about it for a couple of months or so. When I finally watched it, it was one of those shows were it takes a couple of episodes to really get invested in the characters but after that, I was hooked! I recently just re-watched the entire series for the fourth time (there’s four series with about twenty episodes per season) and wondered how I could spread the word about this incredible show…

1.     “But what if there is hope? Even if it’s dim and somewhere in the nebulous future. It’s a hope I need in order to survive”

24HRS WITH... AUTHOR AND MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCATE MARTIN 'MARTY' BAKER

24 hours with... Martin Baker, Author and Mental Health Advocate

Date: Monday 4^th June 2018

Why have you chosen to write about today?

I decided to choose the first full day after you sent me the questions,/ so it would be pretty much random, rather than choose a day that seemed in some way more ‘special’ or ‘significant.’


Good morning!



What time did you wake up?

I woke briefly around 4:30am but went straight back to sleep. I woke again at 6:40am and got up twenty minutes later just before my alarm (which is set for 7:02am)


Why did you wake up at that time?

That’s just naturally when I woke.



Did you have a dream?

Possibly but not that I remember. I rarely recall my dreams.