“YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE” | WHY TEAMWORK IS SO IMPORTANT IN MENTAL HEALTH | IN COLLABORATION WITH LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB | AD

So, the other day was special for two reasons, firstly; it was Time To Talk Day (you can read my post about it here) and second, it was my Mum’s Birthday!



After deciding that we should have a day out somewhere, we finally decided on Liverpool because Mum has always supported Liverpool Football Club (you can leave your hate and trolling here, it isn’t welcome on this blog!) and has never visited their Stadium; Anfield. So we booked some first class train tickets with Transpennine Express (who we weren’t particularly impressed by) to travel down early in the morning, and requested tickets for the Anfield Stadium tour later in the afternoon.

HIT OR MISS IN MENTAL HEALTH

So, because my last few mental health crises resulted in contact with the Police, and that contact was mostly negative; my Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN) has been speaking with Inspector Baker (who I’ve previously worked with in training Northumbria Police’s new recruits). They thought it might be a good idea for me to meet with an Officer from my locality. Initially, the intention was because one officer detained me under the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and I voiced that whilst I’d heard of the Act, I wasn’t aware that it gave Police any power. You see, I’ve had the Act used on me a couple of times, but it’s always been by either Paramedics or staff in a medical Hospital. So, my CPN’s thinking was to have the Act explained to me and for us (my CPN, myself and the Officer) to discuss a ‘plan’ in case there was to ever be another instance where the Police became involved in a mental health crisis with me. 


Initially, I was actually a little bit horrified at the idea because there’d been a similar meeting in 2012 before I went into Cygnet and so I worried that the fact professionals felt another meeting appropriate, meant that I really was going backwards. Things really were going back to the beginning. My CPN reassured me that the meeting was purely for a ‘what if’ situation and not – as the previous meeting had been – a necessity because such situations were inevitable.

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. 

HOW TO SURVIVE HOSPITAL | FIVE TIPS TO MAKE IT THROUGH ANY HOSPITAL STAY

A little while ago one of my medications was increased and with the increase, came a change in the tablet’s appearance. Of course the dormant voices jumped on this and convinced me that it was poison and they reasoned that Doctors were trying to make me more poorly so that I would need them more. Naturally, their thunderous voices were no match for my own and so I stopped taking my medication (which included two anti-depressants, one mood stabiliser, and an antipsychotic).

THE 'US' VERSUS 'THEM' DISCUSSION

Cat and Mouse Games

I remember after my very first overdose when the Nurse in Accident and Emergency (A&E) told me that if I were to run away then they’d be calling the Police and immediately I was struck with the sense that I was now in a battle and it was me against them. I think it had to do with the feeling of now being in a game of cat and mouse; they were chasing me. They were trying to find me. Now there was a game to win and perhaps it’s natural, especially for someone who’s normally competitive, to be desperate to win any kind of ‘game.’

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!

MISCOMMUNICATION IN MENTAL HEALTH

My motivation for this post came after my article with Metro went live… a Twitter conversation was started in which various people were talking about how I was lucky in having a positive experience of a psychiatric hospital admission. They talked about the fact that I had all of my possessions around me; a suitcase full of clothes and technology. They didn’t know that I’d been sectioned whilst on an overnight trip which meant that I had everything with me anyway! They didn’t know that the point of the article was to use my experience as evidence that psychiatric hospitals aren’t the stigmatised assumptions of it – it isn’t all padded walls and mattresses on floors. They weren’t saying that hospitals had improved or that they were all like the one I’d been in

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!).

24 HOURS WITH A CRISIS TEAM SERVICE USER | VLOG

You guys know how I love to vlog and you probably also know that I’m no ‘YouTuber.’ I can edit small clips together into one long video and that’s it! So, excuse the messiness of this but I wanted to illustrate that people – including myself (years ago), have a perceived idea of what a person who is under the care of the Crisis Team might look like, sound life, and act like.

I hope that this video demolishes any assumptions and stigma on this.

9 STIGMATISED COMMENTS I'VE HEARD

One

“If you actually wanted to commit suicide you’d go into the woods in the middle of the night and get it over with quickly and quietly”

This was said to me by a police officer. She was taking me from where I’d been found – after being reported missing, on the beach to A&E after I admitted that I’d taken an overdose. To say something like that to a person in a mental health crisis is so dangerous. In that moment, when she said it to me; I just thought ‘thanks for the tip. I’ll do that next time.’

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

TALKING ALL THINGS MENTAL HEALTH WITH NORTHUMBERLAND, TYNE & WEAR NHS FOUNDATION TRUST CHIEF EXECUTIVE, JOHN LAWLOR | PART ONE

TALKING ALL THINGS MENTAL HEALTH WITH NORTHUMBERLAND, TYNE & WEAR NHS FOUNDATION TRUST CHIEF EXECUTIVED, JOHN LAWLOR | PART TWO

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

TALKING ALL THINGS MENTAL HEALTH WITH NORTHUMBERLAND, TYNE & WEAR NHS FOUNDATION TRUST CORPORATE DIRECTOR, CAROLINE WILD

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

The goal of Time To Talk Day (set up by the organisation Time To Change) is that it dedicates one day in particular, for those who support the cause in talking more openly about mental health in order to reduce the stigma of it. It’s highly recognised now, that one of the greatest roots of mental health stigma is the reluctance to talk about it. To have conversations about daily struggles. And to open up and tell others about your own mental ill health to encourage them to do the same so that people are more likely to both, ask for support/help, and/or recognise that judging those in similar situations is wrong and inappropriate.

Here at I’m NOT Disordered, mental health is, pretty much, the name of the game! I don’t know if some of you know this or not – or will even believe it – but there were a few years when I didn’t talk about my mental health. Ironically, it was probably the years that I really needed to; but I was still quite young (18-21); an age bracket that, I feel, is at the height of the stigmatised views against mental health.

CHRISTMAS Q&A WITH SPECIAL CONSTABLE NEIL PATTON FROM NORTHUMBRIA POLICE | 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH I'M NOT DISORDERED

It’s a special time of year and so, to celebrate it, I wanted to do something special on I’m NOT Disordered for Christmas. I have decided to bring back the Christmassy Q&A I put together last year with the questions being from a YouTube video and have posed them to many different people from all of the country and doing all sorts of jobs, in all sorts of roles, living all kinds of lives!

So let’s kick off Day Ten of 12 Days of Christmas with I'm NOT Disordered with the answers of Special Constable Neil Patton from Northumbria Police:

_{1. When do you start getting excited for Christmas Day?}

AD | CYGNET NATIONAL SERVICE USER AWARDS | NOMINATIONS OPEN SOON!! | AD

I’m delighted to be able announce to you guys that for the 2018 National Service User Awards (NSUA); I’ll be taking on the role as Head of Social Media!

It’s a brand new role for this year’s NSUA and is a mark of their popularity in that they now need extra support in their publicity and communications (specifically in terms of social media) because they seem to become inundated with calls, emails, messages to the Facebook page, and to the Twitter account… But it’s thank you to all you lovely readers that they’ve chosen me for the job! That they’ve picked me for the position. Because if I’m NOT Disordered weren’t so popular then it would be of no benefit to them.

Initially, I was upset to hear that I wasn’t being given the log in details for the specially created accounts; although, at the same time, I understand the risk in allowing someone else access to an organisations’s social media. And now we’ve talked about it; it’s actually a compliment; they think I can do more good through I’m NOT Disordered and my own social media with its extended; and kind-of-huge(!) audience, readers, and followers.

I’m also now delighted to tell you all that on MONDAY 16^TH OCTOBER, the nomination categories for the National Service User Awards 2018, were announced to be…

·         Community Social and Vocational Initiatives

·         Breaking Down Barriers: Tackling Stigma

·         Health and Wellbeing Initiative

·         Outstanding Service User Involvement Award (team or individual)

And also the usual – ever popular – Service User Choice Award which will be voted for during the event!!

!!!NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN AND WILL CLOSE ON FRIDAY 8^TH DECEMBER 2017

AND

INFORMATION ON HOW TO MAKE A NOMINATION WILL BE HERE SOON!!!

A QUARTER OF A MILLION READERS!!!

BEFORE I BEGAN TO BLOG…

Having been abused when I was younger I internalised all of the mental (and physical) pain; and held onto the anger through my reluctance to tell anyone it had occurred. Over the following two years I tried various dangerous and unhealthy coping methods before I began experiencing auditory hallucinations in 2009, and out of fear; I took an overdose.

Over the following three years I self-harmed (in many different ways), took (according to my files) over 60 overdoses, and was sectioned under the Mental Health Act on countless occasions where admissions to Psychiatric Hospitals lasted from anywhere between a couple of days, to several months.

WHEN I BEGAN TO BLOG

In July 2012 I attempted suicide and woke up in Intensive Care. There (once I came off life support) I agreed to go into a long-term (the average stay was claimed to be 12-18 months) hospital specialising in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The hospital (Cygnet Hospital Bierley) was based over 100 miles away from my home, my Mum, my family, friends; and everything I knew…

SURPRISE #MultiAgencyNE POST FOR CLAIRE ANDRE

NOTE: This post is ridiculously belated (the #MultiAgencyNE event was September 2016) but I recently came across it in my 'drafts' blog post file and didn't want it to go unpublished! So, here's some words of praise for someone who (in my opinion) is a bit of an unsung hero. Claire Andre is one of those amazing professionals who is genuine and dedicated to what she does - it isn't just a paycheque for her. She takes things to heart; and has been one of the best mentors I could've asked for!


"Claire and her team have put together a fantastic event which promises to be a real opportunity to showcase some wonderful work in mental health and improving outcomes for service users"

Devon and Cornwall Street Triage Team

"Claire is a force of nature: she gets stuff done and she's waded fearlessly in to a police culture that isn't always sympathetic to the problems in mental health. This amazing event shows what she's capable of - well done, Claire!"

Michael Brown OBE,  Blogger, and Mental Health Coordinator for NPCC and the College of Policing

POST FOUR: MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK 2017

24 hours with... Dawn Shaefer

Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, Cygnet Healthcare
Cygnet Healthcare: https://www.cygnethealth.co.uk/
Cygnet Healthcare Twitter: https://twitter.com/cygnethealth

Date: Thursday May 11th, 2017

Why have you chosen to write about today?
Why not?


Good morning!

What time did you wake up? 
6am – I’m an early bird!

Why did you wake up at that time?
I was going to the gym.

Did you have a dream?
No, quiet night last night! 

Do you think today will be 'good' or 'bad' day? (use your own definition of these words to answer the question)
I always hope every day will have something good in it 😊

What are the first three things you do after waking up?
Check on my son, clean my teeth, try to find the car keys.

POST THREE: MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK 2017

24 hours with... Nadine Appleby

Twitter: https://twitter.com/xnadine1990x

Date: Friday May 12th, 2017

Why have you chosen to write about today? 

I've chosen to write about today as there is a lot going on in my day I am currently an inpatient in an acute psychiatric ward and have meetings today with various professionals to decide next steps with my care.

Good morning! 

What time did you wake up?  '

6:30am

Why did you wake up at that time?  

The staff on my arms length observations made too much noise when they were switching staff.

Did you have a dream?  '

No a nightmare

Do you think today will be 'good' or 'bad' day? (use your own definition of these words to answer the question)  

I'm not sure I think it will hopefully be overall good but will have bad well very stressful parts to the day as I have been having a lot of difficulties with my mental health. 

What are the first three things you do after waking up?  

1.Check my phone

2.Make a coffee, 

3.Talk with the staff on my observations.

Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation Trust Staff Excellence Awards 2017 | Ad

#NTWStars

I'm not going to lie; when I received an e'mail to say that I was a finalist for the Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (NTW) Staff Excellence Awards, I did send some messages, make some phone calls and do some Google searches to check it was genuine. I hadn't heard of the awards; and so I had no idea how I could possibly be shortlisted for one, or who would even nominate me for one... But I was in the category 'Positive Impact'; defined as being 'for someone who is not paid by NTW but has made a remarkable contribution to the Trust or to mental health and disability awareness in their community.'

The nomination:

Aimee was diagnosed with a personality disorder after being sectioned aged 18. Forced to fight against a downward spiral in her health, she began to blog and has been looking forward ever since. Only six months after being discharged, aged 23, she got her own flat and really grabbed the future with both hands. Her blog, I’m Not Disordered, has a huge following and helps other people struggling with their mental health to know they are not alone and people can fight back from the brink. Aimee speaks openly and frankly about her background, as well as her bright future, balancing the two to inspire others and encourage improvements in the system. She now works closely with NTW, Time to Change and Northumbria Police to turn her experiences into positives for those who come after her.