DAY ONE MHAW | LAUNCH POST | MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK 2025

“Begin, be bold, and venture to be wise.”

Horace

I can’t believe Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) 2025 is finally here! It feels like forever ago that I was looking at an Awareness Dates website (this one!), saw MHAW was in the next few weeks, and made the on-the-spot decision to create content for it. As you will know if you’ve seen the Content Agenda graphic on my social media (and at the end of this post), a lot of the other pieces are in collaboration with organisations and another blogger, so I decided to use today’s content, to chat through my decision to do MHAW, my ideas for the actual content I’ve put together, and some advice on coping with the things you may find yourself reading about throughout MHAW…

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…

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025!!! | FAVOURITE BLOG POSTS & COLLABORATIONS, BEST ADVICE & BIGGEST LESSONS, TOP PURCHASES ON AMAZON & ASOS, MOST WATCHED & LISTENED TO, GREATEST MOMENTS & ACHIEVEMENTS, & HOPES & PLANS FOR 2025

“I came to win, to fight. To conquer, to thrive. I came to win, to survive. To prosper, to rise. To fly.”

Fly, Nicki Minaj ft. Rihanna

Yes, here comes another year on I’m NOT Disordered! To celebrate the start of 2025, I thought I’d write this piece about a collection of things from this past year! The post will include favourite blog posts and collaborations from 2024, advice I’d give from the biggest lessons I’ve learnt this past year, as well as my top purchases (from Amazon and ASOS), my most watched TV Shows, Movies, and YouTube videos, and even my top five most listened to on Spotify! Then, I’ll be wrapping up this jam-packed post with my greatest moments and achievements from the entire year, some of my hope for 2025, and a bit of exclusive insight into a few exciting, upcoming plans…

EVERYTHING I’VE ACHIEVED SINCE BEING SECTIONED ONE YEAR AGO

On this day (February 18^th) one year ago, it was the beginning of my most recent detention under section 2 of the 1983 Mental Health Act, and so I obviously wanted to create some content to mark the date. I had a huge brainstorm of what angle to take with the blog post, and I was stuck between talking through the complaint I’d put in regarding many different instances through the admission and the polar opposite of looking at all the achievements I’ve made in this past year. Eventually, I decided to do both! But, they’ll be in separate posts because I wanted to post the achievements piece on the actual anniversary of being sectioned so as to really enhance the idea that it’s actually an achievement in itself to have not been sectioned since then too!

HAPPY 11TH BIRTHDAY I'M NOT DISORDERED | A REEL OF BLOGGING CAREER MEMORIES & A HUGE BALLOON!!!

HOW I’VE MADE IT THIS FAR | MY NEW BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW!!! | PART 3 OF 4

*This post is the third of 4 which will be finished publishing tomorrow!*

Buy You’re NOT Disordered NOW!!

I feel like these pieces of content demanding teamwork are hugely valuable and responsible for how far my blog has come, especially in terms of the readership count. The obvious logic behind this is that in working with other bloggers, organisations, or online influencers, you very typically receive double the publicity than you would if it were a post created solely by yourself because you’ve attracted their following too.

This has worked especially well for me, and for I’m NOT Disordered when I’ve collaborated with a person or an organisation who have a very different following and target audience to me and my blog because it has enabled me to make my blog’s content applicable and attractive to those who might not have given it the time of day without the collaboration or partnership label. And, with everyone having mental health and it just depending on how well or otherwise a person’s is, I’m NOT Disordered can end up actually being genuinely appropriate for those new readers too.

10 THOUGHTS, ADVICE, ‘PINCH-ME’ MOMENTS, RECOMMENDATIONS, & A SERIOUSLY MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!!! | HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY, I’M NOT DISORDERED

“When you start living the life of your dreams, there will always be obstacles, doubters, mistakes, and setbacks along the way. But with hard work, perseverance, and self-belief, there is no limit to what you can achieve.”

Roy Bennette

 I feel like, there’s been a lot of instances – particularly recently – where I’ve made the comment “I can’t believe that this is happening…” and this blog post celebrating I’m NOT Disordered’s 10^th Birthday, is definitely one of those occasions…

I guess that the most obvious place to start is by talking about the creation of the blog way back in 2013…

In the summer of 2012 – after three years in and out of both psychiatric and medical hospitals – a psychiatrist recommended I be admitted to a hospital specialising in my diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. I had an assessment with one unit, and they conceded that they couldn’t accept my flight risk. On my second assessment with the hospital in Bradford (over 100 miles away from home) they were happy to admit me, but I refused to go after hearing of their very structured, intense, and rigid way of running things. The sound of a therapeutic timetable and wake-up/lights-off times, felt overwhelming and unappealing.

WHY COLLABORATIONS CAN BE ALL ABOUT LEARNING AS YOU GO | IN COLLABORATION WITH EDINBURGH BUS TOURS | AD

“Those who do not understand the power of collaboration always struggle for growth”

Anuj Jasani

In June, I took a trip to Edinburgh and decided to go on one of the Edinburgh Bus Tour routes (the Majestic option) and I enjoyed it so much we’ve decided to collaborate again (you can read our first collaboration here). So, whilst this piece is inspired by my recent visit back up there and the photos are from my experience of another of their routes; I’ll be chatting more about the fact this is our second time working together. So, here’s my thoughts on the fact that landing collaborations can be a ‘learn-as-you-go’ kind of process…

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT COLLABORATIONS

 

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”

Isaac Newton

I actually surprised myself when I went through my blog post archive and found that the only remotely similar content, I’d produced was advice on how to land a collaboration over one year ago. The fact there’s been so many new readers who might have missed that, and that I’ve had so many more experiences of collaborations that have taught me so much more; has meant that I thought I’d go ahead with the blog post which will be a complete jumble of absolutely everything you should know about collaborations…

CONSIDERATION & BLOGGING

I’d like to think that whether you’re a new or old reader, you wouldn’t think of me as a hypocrite in any way. So, when I thought that my first piece of advice around collaborations would be to put in some careful consideration, I couldn’t help but remember the fact that this is something I haven’t always done myself. Particularly in the very beginning of my blogging career…

I remember having a really productive 1:1 with my Key Nurse where I agreed to start writing about the abuse I’d experienced and allow the staff to read it. When I got back to my hospital bedroom my laptop was lying on the bed and I just had this belief that the plan to write things down about the trauma and actually let other people read about it, was a huge step forward in my mental health – it felt like a step towards recovery. And it came into my head that I really wanted to document the journey I believed I was about to embark on, and writing a word document felt kind of insignificant… I thought that if I’m going to let the staff who were pretty much strangers read about the most vulnerable time in my life, then why should my loved ones be kept in the dark?

NINE REASONS TO CELEBRATE | HAPPY NINTH BIRTHDAY, I’M NOT DISORDERED

Having made a suicide attempt that landed me on life support during the first year of I’m NOT Disordered, it wasn’t just about psychologically not being able to imagine my blog to still be going nine years later! So, excuse me while I try to recognise, accept, and celebrate the fact that I’ve now been blogging for NINE YEARS!

One of my most popular blog posts for my own Birthday was when I talked about all the reasons why I was grateful I’d made it to that age; so, I thought I’d do something a bit similar in using this occasion as an opportunity to talk about all the reasons why I’m celebrating …

1.       ALL THE LESSONS LEARNT

Being a ‘look-on-the-bright-side’ kind of person, where I’ve made – what some people may deem to be – mistakes in my blogging career and decisions around my blog; I try to view them as learning curves. It means that rather than be upset and tackling feelings of regret, I feel productive and positive instead!

When I first created, I’m NOT Disordered in 2013, there were really only three well-known mental health blogs out there and none of them were written by a psychiatric hospital inpatient. Whilst, on the plus side, this meant I had instantly and accidentally found a niche for my blog (something which becomes increasingly more and more difficult with the overly saturated blog industry); it also meant that I had no real template for what I was doing. I had no one I could really look to as a guide or a blog to look to as a model and a goal.

Again, looking at the positives; whilst this absence of a traditional/predictable inspiration left me feeling alone a lot, it also meant there was no real pressure in those early years of my blogging career. And experiencing any sort of strain when you first start blogging can have a massive influence on whether you continue. So not feeling the need to ‘keep up’ with everyone else or to ‘be better’ than other bloggers, really allowed me the time to find my footing by myself and really learn and develop everything I want I’m NOT Disordered to represent, the content I want it to be a home to, and the reputation I want it to have.

THE SECRETS TO A SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATION | ANNOUNCING MY BLOGMAS PARTNER | WITH PRETTY PERFECT PRODUCTS | DISCOUNT CODE INCLUDED!! | AD

So, I have something kind of big to announce…

This year – for my Christmassy series of blog posts (known as Blogmas) – I’ll be collaborating with Pretty Perfect Products (PPP)!

Originally, the plan was to make this announcement on December 1^st and to continue talking about the brand and in particular, their Christmas Planner (which you can buy here)  throughout the entire Blogmas series. However, after some talks with the PPP team, it turns out that the Planner kind of comes into play a month or so prior to December; and so, to ensure that any prospective buyers get the full benefit of it, I’m announcing the collaboration now!

And, as an early Christmas present, I’m giving you all a 10% discount code exclusive to I’m NOT Disordered readers; just type in ‘AIMEE10’ at the checkout on either the PPP website, or their Etsy store. 

Since I wrote a post last year about planning Blogmas early, I put some thought into what I could blog about for this piece. Then I was speaking to a friend about securing the collaboration and after a ‘wow’ she asked how I’d ‘managed’ to do ‘that’ and I realised that this was something I hadn’t blogged about for a fair while – tips, insight, and advice on collaborations…

Learn about it before you do it

Honestly, I didn’t have any interest or curiosity around the blogging industry and individual bloggers in general until I joined the industry and became a blogger! And from the very beginning of my blogging career, that lack of prior knowledge, meant that I really had no idea what I was in for when I created, I’m NOT Disordered!

On the one hand, this naivety gave me the opportunity to really make my blog into a way which it may not have done if I’d began blogging with expectations or standards. Like, it meant that I didn’t have a concern with my readership in thinking ‘I should have had this many readers by now, because other blogs did!’ It meant I have never felt or thought that my blog was a failure or inadequate in any way.

EVERYTHING I NEED FOR BLOGMAS 2020 & THE BRANDS I’LL BE COLLABORATING WITH

So, one last post before the Blogmas content begins tomorrow!

I thought I’d make it one that I enjoy creating and that will bring insight into exactly what goes behind producing so much Christmassy content from December 1^st until Christmas Day!

 

CREATIVITY

I’d like to think I’m quite a creative person, and that I have been since I was little and started writing short stories about horses! Before that, my Nana and I used to tear out things we liked from a catalogue and make collages with them on paper. But when my Textiles teacher in School began massively criticising my work, I lost confidence in my creative projects and didn’t do many more for over five years when I was detained under the 1983 Mental Health Act. I needed to tell the staff how I was feeling and what I was experiencing and since I couldn’t find the words to say it out loud… I wrote it down. As soon as I saw that doing so was helpful, and that it put the staff in a better position to support me, I continued writing until a year later when I started I’m NOT Disordered!

TWENTY-NINE HIGHLIGHTS FOR MY TWENTY-NINETH BIRTHDAY!!

To go from having mental health professionals predict that you won’t make it to your nineteenth Birthday; to turning twenty-nine, is a bit of a shock to the system, so excuse me while I take a deep breath before I start this post!

This is one particular time of the year where I’m really thankful for I’m NOT Disordered because it’s meant that I’ve got a record of each of my Birthdays for the last seven years: 


When I turned Twenty-Eight last year, I talked about the 28 things I was looking forward to. For turning Twenty-Seven, I blogged  27 things I was thankful for. For my Twenty-Sixth, I wrote about the things my Birthday had made me think about. When I turned Twenty-Five, I talked about the 25 reasons why I was glad I had made it to that age. On turning Twenty-Four, I blogged about the 24 lessons I had learnt over the years. Turning Twenty-Three in 2014 I wrote about what I’d done to celebrate the day. Then, for my first Birthday on I’m  NOT  Disordered, when I turned Twenty-Two, I talked about how it felt spending my Birthday in a psychiatric hospital over 100 miles away from home. 


This year, for me, is a lot about reflection and appreciating how far I’ve come in my life and particularly with my mental health. So, I thought I’d go through each post and pick out 4 highlights from each and talk about them a bit more below (and number 29 will be something special)…

20 WISHES, GOALS, THOUGHTS, & PLANS FOR 2020 | HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I’m always a little hesitant writing new year’s posts because I know you’re probably all snowed under with resolutions in blog posts, so I tried to do something a bit different… This is going to be a real random mix of things that are both about the year that’s just gone and for the year to come!

1.    Thanks to Richmond Fellowship

I’ve collaborated with a number of different organizations through 2019, but I really wanted to pick one that has completely stood out for me as providing me with some incredible experiences and trusting me with a lot of responsibilities. The number of events and meetings I’ve attended this past year with Richmond Fellowship has been huge and the number of roles I’ve played at them is overwhelming and has taught me a lot about myself. Richmond Fellowship have also been so instrumental in my personal mental health recovery and it means so much to me that they trust me with opportunities.

2.    Goodbye CMHT!

The plan this year is that I’ll be discharged from the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) in February! I’ve had various Community Psychiatric Nurses (CPN) from the CMHT and been under their care for the best part of ten years now so it’s about time that discharge was discussed never mind actually planned! The idea of discharge came when my newest CPN devised a care plan as she took over my care following my mental health relapse about six months ago. Having my psychiatric medication increased really stabilized my mental health and has greatly contributed to my safety (it’s been about six months since I last self-harmed!).

 

A BEHIND-THE-SCENES OF COLLABORATIONS | CATS PROTECTION, NORTHUMBRIA POLICE, CNTW NHS FOUNDATION TRUST, OLIVER BONAS, BANDANA BOWTIQUE, RICHMOND FELLOWSHIP, LNER & MORE!!

In light of the success of my article for the Cats Protection blog about the benefits to my mental health having a cat has had, I thought it might be a good time to talk a bit about what it’s like to collaborate with organizations/charities/companies and why I do it.

There are a few controversial issues in the blogging industry such as whether or not to monopolize your blog and feature ads, if you should make your blog into a ‘brand’ and whether you should collaborate with others on joint projects and partnerships.


I guess I decided to do collaborations pretty early on in my blogging career and had a guest blog feature on Time To Change’s website within months of beginning I’m NOT Disordered. I made the decision to work with the brilliant organization who primarily campaign to eradicate the stigma against mental health quite easily. I had been enjoying writing/blogging and found it a huge relief to have somewhere to vent and offload all my pent-up thoughts and feelings that were magnetized by being in a psychiatric hospital. So, it just seemed to make sense to also write a piece for such a huge, well-known, and influential organization like Time To Change. Seeing my number of readers grow after the collaboration was very rewarding and realizing that working with more established organizations would shed some light on the existence of my brand new, little, unknown blog led to more and more collaborations.

MY TOP TEN FAVOURITE THINGS ABOUT BLOGGING

1.      Being able to meet like-minded people

It’s obvious that you won’t always see eye-to-eye with everyone in life but having huge aspects of your life in common with others gives you a pretty good opportunity of meeting people who you’ll identify with. I only have one friend who has a Blog (Marty from gumonmyshoe.com) and I’d honestly be lost without him! It’s so helpful to have someone who truly understands some of the challenges and accomplishments I go through from having I’m NOT Disordered. He knows that when I’m on my phone while we’re out together it doesn’t mean I’m being rude or prioritizing my notifications over friend-time. And he appreciates what a huge achievement it is to land a new collaboration with another organization/individual.

2.      Having the opportunity to empty my mind

When I started to blog from the Psychiatric Hospital in 2013, it was all about getting my thoughts out of my head and it especially became about venting through the drama that would go on between other inpatients and staff. There was a lot of explosive relationships on that ward and sometimes hiding in my room wasn’t enough of an escape from the yelling, aggression and swearing. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying that I was never a part of the arguments, but blogging gave me a more productive outlet and helped me reign in my frustrations when things were getting really heated.