Gum on My Shoe

I walk for.. No more stigma.. Understanding for all!.. On Sunday September 27, Fran joined hundreds of others at Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse, South Portland, Maine, for the 13th annual NAMI Maine Walk. All were there to support the National Alliance on Mental Illness and to participate in Maine’s largest mental health celebration. It was a moving occasion for Fran, who walked with friends as Team Gum on My Shoe . As she wrote afterwards: My heart swells with appreciation and affection for all those who walked today.. Tears staining my face and giggles spilling over.. The joy of exhaustion for energy very well spent.. Continue walking in life only to love.. The event was covered for WCSH6 television. Watch the report and see if you can spot Fran! Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Marty set off for an equivalent walk through Rickerby Park, Carlisle, in the north-west of England. We invite you to visit our Team Gum on My Shoe page to leave a mess...

Following on from my blogs on the excellent Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) workshops, I’d like to share my experience of the QPR Gatekeeper course, which I successfully completed online last week. What is QPR? QPR Gatekeeper training (the acronym stands for Question, Persuade, Refer) is one of several suicide prevention training programs developed by the QPR Institute. There is a good summary of the program on their website. The course covers: How to Question, Persuade and Refer someone who may be suicidal How to get help for yourself or learn more about preventing suicide The common causes of suicidal behavior The warning signs of suicide How to get help for someone in crisis The course costs $29.95 (approx £12.85) on the QPR website but it is offered for free by some organisations including Hope for Life . Who is it for? A Gatekeeper is someone in a position to recognize a crisis and the warning signs t...

Those who live their lives to the full have no need of immortality . Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen Yesterday I visited the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, and discovered For Ever Amber, an exhibition of documentary photography, mostly black and white and primarily of the North East in the 70s and 80s. “Opening up an extraordinary documentary narrative, this exhibition is the first major account of the AmberSide Collection started by a group of like-minded students at Regent Street Polytechnic in London in 1968. With a resolve to collect documents of working class culture, Amber Collective moved to the North East of England the following year in 1969 and in 1977 opened Side Gallery where it remains today.” The collection of photographs and videos affected me deeply. The following is excerpted from my chat conversation with Fran afterwards. Marty: Wonderful exhibition of photography. Local documentary photos. Gritty, real. Real life.. Real people.. Hopelessness...

Thoughts on World Suicide Prevention Day. I feel it is important to say that being there for someone who lives with suicidal thoughts and feelings isn’t all about talking them down from a bridge or asking how many pills they took, what they were and how long ago. In a crisis, intervention, situation, yes. But for many people suicidal thoughts and feelings are an occasional or an ongoing reality and if we care for them we can support with the hope and intention of helping them keep from ever getting to the bridge parapet or downing the pills. If you don't know how to approach your friend or colleague or family member, give it a go anyway. If you don’t know what to say, say something, from a place of care and heart, not from a place of judgement or anger. Ask how you can help. Or just be quiet and be there. Most of all, be yourself. The best yourself you can be. Because in that moment, your needs are not the issue. Your friend, your colleague, your family member, the p...

What a day. A day of kittens. Of kitten therapy. And I got to take a part. I have a fish. I love my fish. He even lets me pet him. But he is not a kitten. I hiked down to Congress Square Park. They had five kittens in a playroom. Five people at a time. Five minutes. Kittens bring you into the moment. They let you wake up to who you are. One who wants to play. And you get lost. Or found. This was my day. You can watch my interview and find out more about kitty therapy on the Portland Press Herald page . Fran  

We recently had the pleasure to meet freelance health writer Diane Atwood when she interviewed us for her award-winning blog Catching Health . The interview itself was a delight, and a perfect example of how Fran and I make our transatlantic friendship work. As Diane writes: When they first started communicating, they chatted on Facebook or sent each other emails and, after deciding that phone calls were too expensive, they started Skyping. That’s how I interviewed Marty. Fran and I sat in her living room and talked to Marty in his living room via Skype. You can read the full interview — which includes details of the sponsored walk we are doing in support of the National Alliance on Mental Illness — on Diane’s own Catching Health blog, as well as her column for Bangor Daily News and on WCSH6 . We have received some fantastic feedback already, including this from Cheryl Ramsay, Walk Coordinator for NAMI Maine: Marty and Fran are making big waves. And ...