MY SPEECH AT THE NORTH TYNESIDE WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY 2024 EVENT IS NOW LIVE!!

 

ALL MY THOUGHTS ON BEING ‘THE BOSS’ | WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY 2024

This year, the theme of World Mental Health Day is ‘it’s time to prioritise mental health in the workplace.’ Because of this theme, I decided to prioritise the news article for the Shake My Hand Campaign website before writing one for I’m NOT Disordered. Over on Shake My Hand, you’ll find a piece full of advice on managing your mental health in the workplace, and if you scroll back through the Campaign’s social media (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) from Monday (the 7^th), you’ll find daily quotes from my Volunteers about how they manage their mental health alongside their volunteering. So, I wondered what was left to write about for I’m NOT Disordered, and realised that my blog is really all about providing insight into my life and perhaps into mental health in general sometimes too, so I thought I’d write about all my thoughts surrounding me being ‘the boss’ at the Campaign and give you some thoughts and tips on managing your mental health when you’re in a senior role…

WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY 2023 | IN COLLABORATION WITH RICHMOND FELLOWSHIP

I won’t lie, I kind of failed to think about the fact that not everyone has Twitter (X) or Instagram and so, if I don’t share my World Mental Health Day content with Richmond Fellowship on I’m NOT Disordered, you guys might not ever see our content!

So, over on their Twitter account was this…

WHY PUTTING YOU FIRST IS THE ESSENTIAL PRIORITY THAT CAN MAKE OR BREAK A MENTAL HEALTH BLOG | WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY 2022

With this year’s theme for World Mental Health Day being: ‘making mental health and wellbeing for all, a global priority;’ I thought about my own priorities. Initially I thought about how much they had changed from being at my most poorly to being in recovery, but then I realised that actually, they had changed – almost a dizzying number of times – at various stages throughout the entirety of my mental health journey. My blog, however, has always remained so high on that list of priorities that I thought I’d write a piece that purely focuses on the priorities which, I believe, are essential for when you’re blogging about mental health…

There are a number of factors which I believe have contributed to I’m NOT Disordered’s popularity and success, but the one I feel has been most key is that from Day One, I have focused on myself, and the impact blogging has on my life. I mean, for so long the main priority in relation to myself, was centred around self-harm and suicide; and I was utterly convinced that I didn’t deserve for anything ‘nice’ to happen to me. But then, after over six months in a psychiatric hospital, I finally began to see that I was worthy of doing whatever I could to maintain my safety and keep my mental health in a positive state. And when I had a really therapeutic 1:1 with my Key Nurse that left me believing that I was on the right path for recovery, I had the very appealing thought that I wanted to document it; and so, I’m NOT Disordered was created…

THE REALITY OF INEQUALITY IN BLOGGING | WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY 2021

You swore and said we are not

We are not shining stars

This I know, I never said we are

Fun – Carry On

With this year’s theme for World Mental Health Day being ‘mental health in an unequal world’ I’ve toyed with a number of ideas for creating a blog post with it in mind. No matter which angle I attempted to write from though, I found myself always talking about the inequality I’ve experienced in the blogging world. Whilst I realise this might seem completely different, superficial, and irrelevant to mental health, my blog has had an enormous impact on my mental health…

When I first created I’m NOT Disordered in 2013, I’d only heard of three mental health blogs: one was by a psychiatric nurse, another by an ex-service user, and one from a Police Officer with a keen interest in mental health law. 

This lack of mental health themed content, firstly meant a distinct absence of inequality because there was no real competition. I don’t really like to use the word ‘competition’ because I don’t agree with the feature of it in the blogging world, but the post is titled ‘the reality’ and competitiveness is definitely real in the industry!

To me, bloggers should be supportive of one another rather than competitive and determined to ‘one up’ someone else. And I believe they definitely shouldn’t be blogging purely to compete with another blogger. To me, that says they’re in this for all the wrong reasons – similarly to when someone creates a blog with the expectation and only drive being that they might receive freebies! Having bloggers like that out there, actually ends up setting a poor example for the rest of us who are in it for the more meaningful gains e.g. psychological or emotional benefits, or sheer enjoyment.  

FIVE THOUGHTS INSPIRED BY THE THEME OF ‘MENTAL HEALTH FOR ALL’ | WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY 2020 | #WMHD2020

As if it’s October already! For a lot of people, October means Halloween, but for those of us in the mental health industry – particularly mental health Bloggers, October means; World Mental Health Day (WMHD) – probably one of the most important dates in the calendar for me.

This year, the World Federation for Mental Health has announced the theme to be ‘Mental Health for All.’ Inevitably and understandably, a huge inspiration for the theme has been the Coronavirus and subsequent ‘lockdowns.’ I think that one aspect of the inspiration comes from the fact that there’s been an increase in the prescription of anti-depressant medication during this difficult time. That, and the increase on referrals to mental health crisis services, really pressure the already underfunded area.

It took me quite a while (so long that I desperately asked Martin from www.gumonmyshoe.com for his ideas!) to think of what I wanted to say today on this theme around improving access to mental health services for everyone. In the end, I realised that I have a lot of thoughts around various aspects of the theme and that maybe I can’t give them one set category… So, here’s some thoughts that’ve been inspired by the Federation’s theme:

 

TWO TOP TIPS ON PUBLIC SPEAKING | NORTH TYNESIDE WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY 2019

So, it may not be World Mental Health Day until the 10^th of October but I’ve actually already attended an event to celebrate the occasion with North Tyneside Launchpad at Cullercoats Crescent Club, where I was very kindly asked to give a talk on social media and blogging. With this year’s World Mental Health Day being around the theme of suicide prevention, I decided to center my talk around the life-changing benefits and consequences that social media can have on someone. After discovering the UK suicide statistics (there are over 800,000 suicides in the UK per year and it is the leading cause of death in 15-29 years olds) and having my own experiences, it’s something I’m very passionate about so talking to a crowd of strangers about it seemed do-able! 


I still remember my very first public speaking event at the Time To Change Story Camp in London and I called my Mum as a hysterical, anxious mess and told her there was no way that I could do it! But of course, I ended up giving the speech and it wasn’t such a total disaster that I didn’t say ‘no’ to all future invitations to do some public speaking! And in continuing to give talks and speeches, I’ve learnt a few things that I thought I’d share because I’d like to encourage you all to share your own experiences publicly because I’ve seen how beneficial it can be for others.