DAY NINETEEN OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: A Q&A WITH THE 'ELVES' BEHIND AN AMAZING CHARITY: CHRISTMAS FOR CAMHS

To donate to Christmas for CAMHS:

Making Christmas Magic For Young People in CAMHS Units (2023) - JustGiving

For the rest of Christmas for CAMHS links:

Christmas For CAMHS | Twitter, Facebook | Linktree

If you’ve been reading, I’m NOT Disordered for some time you’ll likely know that when I was fifteen, I went through a really traumatic experience that lasted six months. Across these months I turned to an unsafe coping skill and developed a really bad reputation at school with my teachers because I was angry at them for not realising what was happening to me or even, at the very least, questioning why there was such a marked change in my behaviour and attitude. Somehow though, I was referred to my local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and sadly, it took so long to actually be offered an appointment that by the time I was, a lot of things had changed, and I was no longer willing to engage with the professional help and support being offered. 

MENTAL HEALTH TIPS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE | THE #HELLOYELLOW CAMPAIGN WITH YOUNGMINDS

 

In a bid to reassure young people that they’re not alone in their mental health, YoungMinds have created the #HelloYellow campaign which you can support by wearing something yellow on October 8thand donating to their cause here: https://bit.ly/3EsL71H

 

DON’T JOKE ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH, ABUSE, SELF-HARM, OR SUICIDE

After the abuse began when I was fifteen, the first mental health difficulty I can remember experiencing was suicidal thoughts and feelings. To be fair, I say ‘suicidal’ but I think it was about more than wanting to be dead; it was about wanting to escape. Wanting to be safe and free. That realisation that actually killing myself wasn’t what I really wanted - and a few other things - led me to start self-harming.

Scratching at my arms hard enough to cause red marks very quickly became more and more severe and it got to the point where a friend noticed a scabbed scratch on the top of my forearm. I still remember the comment she made in front of a few other friends “were you trying to kill yourself?!” And someone else laughed and piped up “if she was killing herself she’d have done the other side!” “Maybe she missed” said someone else. 

TALKING TO CHILDREN ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH

“We are all a little weird and, life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutual weirdness and call it love.”

Dr. Seuss

In 2007, a very small and seemingly insignificant thing happened when I arrived at my History class late and the only spare seat was the one beside Ellie (a fellow new girl to the School, but one who hadn’t seemed to join a friendship group). So, I took the seat; and we talked. And fourteen years later – she is the mum of three – almost four – of my godchildren and we might have hundreds of miles between us, but we’re still as connected as ever! 

So, this blog post has come about because today is my eldest Godson (Jonas) Eleventh Birthday, but the actual inspiration comes from a little conversation with him when I visited Ellie and the children last year (there’s a blog post about my visit here)… We had all been at a little farm in the middle of Edinburgh and Jonas had tripped and scuffed his knee; so later, when we were walking to the car…

Me: is your knee ok now?

Jonas: yeah, because do you know what the worst pain is Aimee?

Me: What?

Jonas: emotion pain.