WHO WOULD I BRING BACK WITH A RESURRECTION STONE? WHERE WOULD I GO BY PORTKEY? WHAT WOULD MY PATRONUS BE? | HARRY POTTER & MENTAL HEALTH; IN A WAY YOU’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE!!!

Recently, I began watching Harry Potter all over again from the beginning and I found myself pondering the idea of a blog post. The problem was, I knew I’d already published content way back in January 2019, which I utilised to talk about ten life lessons illustrated in the Harry Potter series (you can read it here). And so, I considered choosing some quotes from the series that were applicable to many different aspects of mental health, but I knew that I’ve actually created some incredibly similar posts about different TV seasons and movies. Looking back over some of these and after researching how many blog posts and articles there are out there where people have related to Harry Potter quotes, led me to the conclusion that I wanted to do something completely different. I feel like I always work really hard to try to make sure that I’m NOT Disordered’s content is unique and creative, and I’d like to think that this post will massively fulfil that. So, rather than choosing quotes or my favourite bits, I’ve decided to apply some of the concepts throughout the entire Harry Potter series to myself and talk through what these would mean for me…

ALL THINGS TRAVEL & MENTAL HEALTH | IN COLLABORATION WITH LONDON NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY | AD

The Post Inspiration:
A little while ago, I was travelling to London when a cabinet above the sink in the train bathroom swung open and hit me on the head. As an apology, London North Eastern Railway (LNER) issued me with complimentary first-class tickets to any destination on their route! When I got talking to the Communications department though, and they heard about I’m NOT Disordered, we agreed to turn it into a collaboration, so the bestie and I decided to go to York for the day!

It was actually when we were waiting to come home though that we had the conversation which – along with the actual trip - has inspired this blog post. There were no tables outside the pub in York train station so we ended up sitting on a table with a man (Tony) and lady (Nikki). It turned out that Tony worked for Network Rail, so we got talking about my LNER collaboration and the benefits travelling has on your mental health…

Benefits of travelling: 

For a lot of people with a mental health illness, I think that there’s a level of expectation in society that if you behave in a particular way then that must mean you have this diagnosis or if you do that then you must have that diagnosis. This can be especially exacerbated when surrounded by people you know; not just friends but professionals too - there can be pressure in appointments when you feel that you need to seem more well than you feel so as to avoid particular responses from professionals. This pressure from all these different places can obviously become overwhelming and can result in a huge amount of stress which could be slightly alleviated by travelling somewhere different to be surrounded by people who don’t know you… or your mental state! When I temporarily moved down South (where I was born) it felt like a fresh start because was there no one feeling that people were thinking ‘it’s her again.’ I could start new relationships and determine just how much of my mental illness they saw.

WALK SIX MILES IN MY HEELS | AGE UK | AD

Two days ago, (July 11th) I was kindly invited to go on a trip with Age UK. They planned a walk through Teesdale Forest and along to the incredible High Force and Low Force waterfalls with a group of around thirty avid walkers and explorers.

A couple of things happened while we were there that inspired this post; the first was when one of the staff pointed to one of my recent, red, keloid, self-harm scars and said “what’ve you been doing? Did you scratch yourself on a tree?” I get that the scars were quite red and perhaps at a glance they appeared to be fresh, sore, scratches but never the less, I was put in an awkward position. When I recently cut my hand and needed stitches I had to tell a lot of lies to a lot of people who asked how I’d done it and I think I was just tired and – to be honest – a little bit ashamed to lie again. I mean I’m one of the people promoting that we talk more about mental health, yet I still resort to lies around my self-harm. So, I replied with “oh! I have mental health problems.” The lady quickly apologised and changed the subject – which I was grateful for.

SIX PINTEREST PICS THAT SUM UP MY LIFE

Take a peek inside my Pinterest boards and my motivations behind some of my favourite pins with links to my favourite boards…

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/aimeswilson/

LONDON https://www.pinterest.co.uk/aimeswilson/london/

I remember my first visit to London when I was eighteen and my Mum took me down there for my Birthday. We had one of those theatre weekends booked where you get train fayre, a hotel room, and a night at a show of your choice in one packaged price. We chose The Lion King because it’s one of my favourite Disney movies and makes me cry every single time I watch it – no matter how old I get! Since then I’ve visited London on a number of occasions and for a number of different reasons; we visited again to see Legally Blonde on my 21^st Birthday, attended a party at Buckingham Palace to celebrate Blind Veterans 100^th Birthday, and I’ve attended numerous conferences, meetings, and events there. At one point, I was in London so often that I seriously considered moving down there. And then one of the terrorist attacks happened. And I was round the corner. It was when the man was found near Westminster with a bag full of knives. I remember leaving the event in the taxi and people were running, screaming towards us whilst Police riot vans raced in the opposite direction. After a little while, I couldn’t let it stop me from visiting the city that I’d grown to love so much.

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK 2018 WITH I'M NOT DISORDERED | POST TWO | MY FIVE MOST STRESSFUL MOMENTS

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

1.     EXAMS

Taking exams – no matter what level (whether they’re A Levels, GCSEs, or NVQs) it’s almost as though the entire point of them is to stress you out! Around exam time there’s always a lot in the media about the pressure that our young people are being put under through the

education system. There’s been so many stories of young people developing eating disorders, anxiety disorders, and even attempting – and sometimes succeeding at) suicide. For me, my levels of stress during my GCSE exams were worsened by the fact that I was being abused at the time of the revision and that person did everything in his power to cause me to fail. During my A Level exams, I’d begun to hear voices literally a fortnight before my first three exams. I recognise that neither of these experiences are the ‘norm’ but they are also the reason why my exams were one of the most stressful times of my life.

HOW I USED DBT AT ENGLISH HERITAGE SITE: BRINKBURN PRIORY & MANOR HOUSE | AD

I can remember when I was sectioned once whilst down south and my Mum told me about a phone call she’d had with a member of staff from the psychiatric hospital I was admitted to. During the call he’d asked whether I’d had Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and when my Mum told him she hadn’t heard of it, he explained his surprise as it is the recommended treatment for someone diagnosed with a Personality Disorder (I had been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder). After that, my Mum questioned my Community Mental Health Team as to why I hadn’t had it yet and why it hadn’t even been suggested.