THE IMPORTANCE OF PEER SUPPORT IN MENTAL HEALTH | PRE-EVENT BLOG POST | IN COLLABORATION WITH TYNESIDE CATS PROTECTION

Lean on me,

When you’re not strong,

And I’ll be your friend,

I’ll help you carry on

Bill Withers: Lean On Me

Not too long ago, I spotted an event on Facebook advertising Tyneside Cats Protection’s Summer Open Day at their Adoption Centre (you can check out the event here). After not only collaborating with them – and the charity on a national basis – many times over the past few years (with our most recent one being: DAY THREE MHAW | A COMMUNITY-THEMED Q&A WITH A CAT CARE VOLUNTEER | MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK 2025 WITH CATS PROTECTION | I'm NOT Disordered), but having also attended previous Open Days at the Centre, I was eager to attend. With one of my best-friends and his partner also planning to attend, I contacted the Centre and asked whether we could all meet a few of the cats (as I have done previously in this post: ABANDONMENT & HOW TO COPE WITH IT | IN COLLABORATION WITH CATS PROTECTION | I'm NOT Disordered) and with the answer being “yes, of course!” we ended up deciding to make the entire thing into a collaboration. I found however, that I had two ideas for themes or angles that the collaboration could take, and so I agreed to publish this piece – which was inspired by Cats Protection’s Volunteer Assistance Programme (more info and their poster are at the end of this blog post – prior to the event and then another on the day/just after it…

DAY TWO MHAW | HOW WAYTHROUGH ARE TACKLING ‘COMMUNITY’ | MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK 2025 WITH WAYTHROUGH

“Learn to enjoy and respect each other’s differences.”

Fred Meijer

For the second day of Mental Health Awareness Week 2025, I’ve collaborated with mental health and drug and alcohol support charity; Waythrough. Prior to Richmond Fellowship and Humankind merging, I had been under the care of Richmond Fellowship for almost ten years and was honoured to be a huge part of the communications and marketing aspects to the merger and the creation of Waythrough. In this post, I’ve chatted with another service user and fellow member of the Life Experience Council as well as Waythrough’s Inclusion Manager about how Waythrough have tackled the theme of community…

HOW MY COLLABORATION GAME HAS CHANGED IN 12 YEARS

“The purpose of life is not to be happy, but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you lived at all.”

Leo Rosten

So, I’ve been realising that my most recent blog posts have been quite deep and overwhelming in various ways, and over my years of blogging – as I’m NOT Disordered has grown in popularity – I have found that my content which includes tips and advice for budding bloggers also proves fairly popular amongst readers. Having also literally just popped off a new Collaboration Pitch, I felt inspired to put this piece together where I’m going to do a bit of an examination of my ‘collaboration game’ from the very first partnership with the YoungMinds ‘Vs Campaign’ in 2014 to my most recent projects with the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust…

CREATING AN AUTUMN 2024 WARDROBE | IN COLLABORATION WITH ASOS

If you’ve been a follower of I’m NOT Disordered for a while, you’ll know that I’m a huge fashion and beauty fan and that they are actually the blogs I follow the most! And occasionally, I like to include some more light-hearted content because I’m fully aware how intense and emotional my content can be, so; I’ve teamed up with ASOS again (our last collaboration is here) to create an Autumn wardrobe! I recognise this post might not be for everyone – or anyone! – but I’m NOT Disordered is, first and foremost, for me(!) and I need to be able to produce content that I want and enjoy creating so, here goes...

COME TO A ST OSWALD’S HOSPICE SHOP WITH ME | PLUS A LOOK AT ALL MY PURCHASES | IN COLLABORATION WITH ST OSWALD’S HOSPICE

“Whoever said that money can’t buy happiness, simply didn’t know where to go shopping.”

Bo Derek

I was once a Digital Volunteer with St Oswald’s Hospice for four years (with a few temporary contracts with their Communications and Marketing team throughout that time), when I spotted their new store just minutes from my home, I was almost instantly inspired to put together some content centred around it! Probably something which helped me to think of the idea so quickly was that I’m genuinely a huge fan of shopping too (as you may have seen in our Collaboration Teaser; which you can read here)! So, this is sort of a dream collaboration for me(!) and I really hope you like it just as much as I have enjoyed creating it…

5 THINGS I’VE LEARNT ABOUT PETS & MENTAL HEALTH | WISHING THE KITTEN A VERY HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY!!! | IN COLLABORATION WITH MAMMY’S BISCUITS

https://mammysbiscuits.com

Twitter: @MammysBiscuits

Instagram: @Mammys_Biscuits

Facebook: MammysBiscuits

“When you feel someone else’s pain and joy as powerfully as if it were your own; then you know you really love them.”

Ann Brashares

*This post features a Mammy’s Biscuits product: the ‘Birthday Girl’ bandana – you can browse & purchase their other designs here*

 I honestly don’t care how stereotypical this sounds; but I literally and genuinely cannot believe that I’m writing this blog post to celebrate my little maine coon/ragdoll mix kitten – Ruby – turning one year old! Now, if you’ve read, I’m NOT Disordered for even just a little while, you’ll likely know that I have pets and that I absolutely love them to pieces, and they help my mental health immensely. Because I’ve had quite a few (three who have passed and the three I have now) over the almost ten years since I’ve been in my own home, and I know I’ve written numerous blog posts at various stages of their lives, I wasn’t sure if there’d be an angle (also due to the fact I’ve actually already published a post in connection with Ruby’s Birthday, you can read it here) left to cover in writing this 1^st Birthday post for Ruby! But, fortunately, the first one I thought of – a post about the reality of life with pets and mental health – hadn’t been done before so, I decided to tackle it…

DAY TWENTY-TWO OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: PHOENIX COVE ITEMS FOR MY BEST-FRIEND & HER FAMILY & A GIFT GUIDE FOR FAMILIES | IN COLLABORATION WITH PHOENIX COVE

PhoenixCove - Etsy UK

https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/

https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co

https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co

Welcome to Blogmas Unboxed!!

This post was inspired by all the special, handmade gifts, I bought from Phoenix Cove for my best-friend; Sophie, her husband (Craig), and daughter (Freya), which I'll show you now, and then I thought I would also put together this little gift guide of presents that can be given to entire families in order to save on buying individual gifts…

DAY EIGHTEEN OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: HUGE CHRISTMAS HOMEWARE WISHLIST | IN COLLABORATION WITH PHOENIX COVE

PhoenixCove - Etsy UK

https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/

https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co

https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co

Welcome to Blogmas Unboxed!!

I literally can’t believe we’re on Day Eighteen already! Sometimes it feels like this month is going really fast and sometimes I’m really happy that it’s going slowly because I’m enjoying every minute of it! Anyway, for Blogmas Unboxed today, I’ve put together an enormous Wishlist for Christmas homeware items (using my colour scheme; pink, gold, and various shades of blue – but it’s mainly about the pink!) from a whole variety of stores and websites and with a huge range in budget. Hopefully you’ll find something inspirational or something that will work for your own home too…

DAY SEVENTEEN OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: A GIFT GUIDE FOR BLOGGERS | IN COLLABORATION WITH PHOENIX COVE

PhoenixCove - Etsy UK

https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/

https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co

https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co

Welcome to Blogmas Unboxed!!

Today I'll be sharing with you a gift made by Phoenix Cove for my best-friend and fellow Blogger; Martin Baker (of www.gumonmyshoe.com), and it has also inspired to create this gift guide especially themed just for the Bloggers in your life… There also may or may not be a little reel at the end of Martin and I exchanging gifts and having a festive night-in...

DAY TEN OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: A GIFT GUIDE FOR BEST-FRIENDS & 10 AMAZON.CO.UK PICKS FOR MY BEST-FRIEND; GEORGIE | IN COLLABORATION WITH PHOENIX COVE

PhoenixCove - Etsy UK

https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/

https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co

https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co

Welcome to Blogmas Unboxed!!

Having gotten one of my best-friend’s; Georgie, a little wooden, personalised gift tag (which you can have customised a purchase here) from Phoenix Cove, I was inspired to create this gift guide for best-friends! At the end, there’s also a little collaboration with Amazon UK where I’ve chosen ten items I thought Georgie would like, and upon seeing them she loved them all!

DAY TWO OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: AN ITEM FOR GRACIE’S 1ST CHRISTMAS, A MENTAL HEALTH MYTH-BUSTING CHAT INSPIRED BY RABBIT HALLUCINATIONS, & A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR LUNA | IN COLLABORATION WITH PHOENIX COVE

PhoenixCove - Etsy UK

https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/

https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co

https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co

Welcome to Blogmas Unboxed!!

So, the first piece I’m going to share with you from the wonderful and talented Cleo from Phoenix Cove – a popular Etsy store – is this cute little decoration marking that this Christmas is the first one for one of my mini-Lionhead bunny’s; Gracie. So, inspired by this item, I thought I’d write a little piece about her, and I’ve created a reel of some of my favourite moments and photos of both her, and my other mini-Lionhead; Luna (who I got one of the wooden letters for)…  

WHY HOSPITAL CAN BE STRESSFUL & HOW TO GET THROUGH IT | NATIONAL STRESS AWARENESS DAY 2023 | IN COLLABORATION WITH THE NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST

 

To mark Stress Awareness Day 2023, I’ve teamed up with The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NUTH) to talk to you about how their upcoming Mental Health Strategy can help to tackle why it can be so stressful to visit or be admitted to hospital. I’ll also be providing some tips and advice for both those struggling with anxiety in this way and those staff who are caring, helping, and supporting these people…

How Do You Define Stress If It’s Different for Everyone?

THE SCARIEST REVEAL EVER!!! | HALLOWEEN 2023 | IN COLLABORATION WITH PHOENIX COVE

This Halloween, Cleo – owner of the popular Etsy store; Phoenix Cove – and I, have decided to talk about confronting all the fears we’re facing by revealing our absolutely humongous project that we’ve been working on in secret for the past few months.

So, get ready for… Blogmas Unboxed 2023!!

So, just a quick explanation of Blogmas for new readers: Every December since 2019, I’ve created a series named ‘Blogmas’ where I’ve produced festive, daily content – in the form of blog posts – from December 1^st until Christmas Day (December 25^th).

MOST NECESSARY ITEMS FOR WRITING A BOOK | 25 DAYS UNTIL YOU’RE NOT DISORDERED IS PUBLISHED!!! | IN COLLABORATION WITH AMAZON UK

Earlier this year, in January, I published a post celebrating the tenth Birthday of I’m NOT Disordered and at the end of it, I finally announced that I had been working on a new book (you can read the post here). I set the publication date at April 20^th (the anniversary of the abuse ‘ending’) but in February, I was sectioned and hospitalised for ten days and that really ate into my valuable writing time and left me having to write a blog post (which you can read here) that explained my decision to delay the publication to November 18^th (the anniversary of the start of the abuse). After finally being discharged from the psychiatric hospital, I decided to publish a post (which you can read here) revealing the title for the book: You’re NOT Disordered: The Ultimate Wellbeing Guide for Bloggers. Finally, in June 2023, I revealed my book’s cover in a post (which you can read here) that talked about why I care what you all think. And now, with just 25 days until the publication of You’re NOT Disordered (or YND), I thought I’d tell you the five items I think are most needed for writing a book…

WHY NHS TRUSTS NEED TO BE FOLLOWING IN NEWCASTLE’S FOOTSTEPS!! | IN COLLABORATION WITH THE NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST

Our first collaboration: FROM INTENSIVE CARE TO COLLABORATIONS | IN COLLABORATION WITH NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST TO MARK THEIR BRAND-NEW MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGY | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)

Our second collaboration: EVERYTHING I’M LEARNING FROM MY WORK WITH NEWCASTLE HOSPITALS ON THEIR MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGY | IN COLLABORATION WITH NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)

So, I’ve been working with the Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NUTH) for over a year (you can read all of our previous collaboration posts above) on their upcoming Mental Health Strategy and spending so long on this project, has really opened my eyes to so much that I thought I might confront, and so much that I hadn’t even imagined would come up from doing this! The main experience and huge benefit from this project, for me though, has been the recognition that in working together, so many thoughts and feelings I’d held against the Trust for saving my life when I made a suicide attempt were completely changed; and for so many different reasons…

Going through abuse can really leave you quite vulnerable in so many ways, but particularly when it comes to your thoughts, feelings, and opinions on hatred and resentment, and this can go on to affect so many instances and relationships in your future… So, for me – in the beginning – I held a lot of anger and hatred towards my abuser and was 100% confident of both the fact that he was worthy of it and that it was completely fine for me to feel this way. I didn’t foresee anything bad arising from it. If anything, to be honest, I thought it was a good thing – a healthy thing. I thought that anyone and everyone would be full of this amount of anger and spite if they had gone through what I had.

#HEREFORTHEKITTENS | WEEK TWO: UNSEEN ‘BABY PHOTOS’ OF RUBY & EVERYTHING I’VE LEARNED IN HER SECOND WEEK | IN COLLABORATION WITH CATS PROTECTION & FEATURING AN ETSY DISCOUNT CODE!!! | AD

This post and the following two are part of a series named Here For The Kittens and are all in collaboration with Cats Protection, the UK’s largest feline welfare charity…

You can find all the links for their social media here: Cats Protection’s LinkTr.ee

You can find the first post of this series here: http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/05/hereforthekittens-series-intro-managing.html

The second post is here:

http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/05/hereforthekittens-week-one-all-emotions.html

Firstly, a massive thank you for all the lovely comments and feedback on the previous two posts in this series! You’re making a huge difference! This post – marking the second week with my little ragdoll kitten; Ruby – is all about things I’ve learnt from having her across this past week, and how I’ve coped with all of them. There’ll also, be a very special bit of some unseen ‘baby’ photos and videos of Ruby from just a few weeks old (as well as media from the past week!) …

EVERYTHING I’M LEARNING FROM MY WORK WITH NEWCASTLE HOSPITALS ON THEIR MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGY | IN COLLABORATION WITH NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST

Since the Involvement Bank of Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW) advertised the opportunity on behalf of Newcastle Hospitals for its members to become involved in the development of their mental health strategy, I’ve been working alongside some of the most amazing NHS staff I have ever come across (namely Gemma and Fardeen)! And having created a post a while ago about my journey with the Trust (which you can read here), I thought I’d follow it up with this chat about everything I’m learning on this productive and inspirational journey to create a mental health strategy that genuinely has the Trust’s patients at the very heart of it…

If you’ve been reading, I’m NOT Disordered for a little while then you’ll probably know – or have noticed – that I’m very fond of creating collaborations with various organisations, charities, companies, and brands. My passion for this kind of content mostly stems from both the incredible opportunities or gifted experiences/products I’m offered, and from the idea that my blog is of a standing in the industry where being mentioned or featured on it, can be beneficial – in so many ways – for others. I feel that this says a lot about the standard of my posts, the popularity of my blog, and its examples and illustrations of the various definitions of the term ‘successful.’

#HEREFORTHEKITTENS | SERIES INTRO: MANAGING MY MENTAL HEALTH IN MAKING THE DECISION TO GET A KITTEN & ALL THE PREPARATION FOR HER!!! | IN COLLABORATION WITH CATS PROTECTION & FEATURING AN ETSY DISCOUNT CODE!!! | AD

Cat’s Protection Donut Bed: £11.99 via the Cat Care Collection (catsprotectionshop.co.uk)

This post and the following four are part of a series named Here For The Kittens and are all in collaboration with Cats Protection, the UK’s largest feline welfare charity:

You can find all the links for their social media here: Cats Protection’s LinkTr.ee

This Series was inspired by the fact I finally made the decision to get a kitten (who I picked up today – May 20th!) and having worked with Cats Protection several times in the past, I thought they’d be the perfect collaboration partner. So, we’ll be working together to produce weekly content for the first month with my new kitten; Ruby. The content will revolve around all the information and advice I’ve needed to take from the Cats Protection website each week and there’ll be a Ruby update in each post with plenty of photos and video clips…

TO ME, FROM ME | VALENTINES GIFT GUIDE & A WISHLIST | HAPPY VALENTINES DAY 2023 | IN COLLABORATION WITH AMAZON UK

In previous Valentines Days on I’m NOT Disordered, I’ve talked about the importance of loving yourself and how trauma can affect that, appreciating your friends, and even being comforted by the love for your pets(!), so I felt as though there wasn’t a whole lot of other angles for this year’s Valentines Day post… I finally decided, however, to collaborate with Amazon UK and put together this little gift guide – with the hope and intention of you using it to focus on buying yourself a little something! – for people with a whole variety of interests, and then there’ll be a Wishlist at the end of all my dream gifts…

RELATING TO QUOTES FROM MY FAVOURITES ON NETFLIX | IN COLLABORATION WITH NETFLIX UK

“Certain things leave you in your life and certain things stay with you. And that’s why we’re all interested in movies – those ones what make you feel; you still think about.”

Tim Burton

So, according to my blog post archive, it’s been quite a while since I’ve published a post from this kind of angle and in collaboration with the wonderful Netflix UK. I think people talk a lot about music and how song lyrics can be really relatable and therefore comforting in some ways, but there’s not a whole lot about movies or series’ affecting our mental health…

“If you’re going to let one stupid prick ruin your life, you’re not the girl I thought you were!”

Professor Stromwell

One of the most common comments I’ve heard when talking about the abuse and suicide has been something along the lines of; “but then he would win!” From Day One, that comment has never been helpful for my mental health and suicidal thoughts and feelings; but the more I’ve had it said to me, the more it’s starting to grate on me. It now feels like a bit of a token gesture – as though people are saying it out of habit; like they believe it’s something they should say. My conviction that all those who have made this comment do genuinely believe – or at least they hope – that it’s helpful, means I tend to not bite their heads off when they say it (even though I’m really tempted to!)!