Gum on My Shoe

Back in January I posted a list of seven things I’d quite like to do in 2018 . I shared a mid-year update , but how did I get on overall? 1. Read Two Books ACHIEVED The two books I originally selected to read (actually to reread) were Talk Like TED , by Carmine Gallo, and Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard . I didn’t finish the first and haven’t started the second but I did reread Alan Garner’s The Owl Service , and Fran and I recently finished A Fatal Obsession , the latest thriller by Maine author James Hayman. 2. Bring My Weight Back under 180 Pounds ACHIEVED As I reported back in June , I’d had very little success through the first half of the year, but I finally found the motivation to do something about it. I brought my weight down from 192 lbs to around 178 – 180 lbs, where it has remained for a month or so. My intention is to press on again to reattain the weight I was at a few years ago when I first brought myself down from 200 lbs. Watch this spa...

By Lea It is only when we lose what we had that we realise just what we had. This is true in different elements of life. Sadly, this year it was true for me when it came to my Mental Wealth. Between the ages of seven to twenty-two my Mental Wealth was lost, eaten alive and consumed by a range of people, from bullies at school, to the lack of trust shown by professionals who had the training to know better, and others. All this in addition to a rough deck of cards life had thrown my way. Over those years, though, I was fortunate to spend a twenty-four week admission to The Crisis Recovery Unit, a specialist unit which was part of The Maudsley Hospital, which specialised in attempting to reach those for whom self-injury had become a coping mechanism. I guess the best analogy I can make is that my body, my life, my experiences, my emotions were like an ostrich egg. The staff at the CRU chipped away slowly and methodically to break down the barriers I had put up as an act of self-...

Check out our top posts for the past month. Posts are listed by number of page views they attracted during the month, most popular first. Five Fun Adventures to Enjoy with a Friend Who Has Bipolar Disorder Helping Out at ReCoCo’s Hallow Wellbeing Event Seeing Red: A Look at Bipolar Anger Exploring Bipolar Disorder and the Sister Diagnosis of Schizoaffective Disorder. Is My Friend or Sibling Underdiagnosed? How to Write the Best Acknowledgement Page for Your Book Attending a Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) Workshop at ReCoCo Today, I simply give thanks. Season’s Greetings To Pieces What Newcastle Recovery College Means To Me Our most visited pages were: Resources Contact Us About Us Testimonials Our book: High Tide Low Tide News and Appearances  

“I wish people didn’t think silence was awkward, just enjoy it. Not every space has to be filled with words.” (Anon) That quotation was shared recently on Facebook by a good friend of mine. I posted a response (“True, silence can be awkward, of course, but it can be lovely.”) and went on with my day. But somehow, I kept coming back to the topic of silence, and to the idea of there being more than just these two kinds, comfortable and awkward. I hope we all know the first of these; the gentle sense of being with someone and having no need for words. I say gentle, but at times it can come upon us like a wave: the simple yet so rare awareness of sharing the moment without needing to explain or talk it away. There is a beautiful scene near the start of the submarine movie Crimson Tide . Captain Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman) is talking to his executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Ron Hunter (Denzel Washington), as they head out of port watching the sunset. “Bravo, Hunter.” “Sir?” “...

By Julie A. Fast It’s fun to do things together, but it can be hard to figure out what is helpful when a person with bipolar is working hard on stability. Before I truly committed my life to bipolar management, going out drinking at karaoke was my main entertainment. These days, I look for more healing environments that allow me to have a great time and still get to bed on a schedule. If you’re a friend of someone with bipolar disorder and wonder what you can do together that is relaxing and fun and SAFE, think of these options. I’m in Portland, Oregon in the US where there is a lot of gender openness, so even if something sounds feminine or masculine, please know that there is no limit to what we can do - as you will see by suggestion number one: Get a pedicure or foot massage together! Find a salon with a good health record and book a joint session where you can sit and get your feet pampered while you both sit and gossip about life. Pedicure chairs are so comfortable. We h...

Today, I simply give thanks. I give thanks to each person in my life sharing smiles, laughter, love, tears, happiness, contrast, and the wonders of the world with me. I give thanks to those seemingly different from me as they open my eyes to new ideas, understandings, opportunities, and ways of living. I give my thanks to those who choose to see love, health, happiness, and possibilities in whatever situation they find themselves in at this moment. I give thanks to those with such courage and conviction who face situations that seem insurmountable and yet find a way to not only survive but thrive. I give thanks to YOU and ask that you add Thank You to the top of your vocabulary list. Say thank you for the good experiences. Say thank you to the contrasting experiences as there is a gem waiting to be uncovered. Whether you say THANK YOU out loud or quietly to yourself, when you live in and with gratitude, you shine so bright you light up the world.  

Disclaimer: Wellness Recovery Action Plan® and WRAP® are registered trademarks. All rights are reserved by the copyright holder, Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. I wrote recently about how I came to enrol at Newcastle Recovery College (ReCoCo) and a little of what the college means to me . I have also written about the first class I took, which was on self-harm awareness . In this article I describe my experiences attending the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) Awareness workshop. The following description is taken from the ReCoCo website : WRAP AWARENESS A workshop for people who experience mental health challenges and for those who care about them. It promotes a structured approach to developing a range of strategies to support self-management in recovery from distress. WRAP® (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) is a plan designed and managed by you and is designed to: Decrease and prevent intrusive or troubling feelings and behaviours Increase personal empowerment I...

As I described elsewhere , I recently enrolled at Newcastle Recovery College (ReCoCo) and have attended the first of several courses I intend taking there. Last week ReCoCo held their Hallow Wellbeing fundraising event and I went along to help out, using one of my three volunteering days from work. I should note that I’m not an official trained ReCoCo volunteer, I was simply there to help out on the day as best I could, and to have fun! The latter aim was definitely achieved! I’ve never considered myself the sort of person who does fancy dress, but as I’ve written before sometimes it’s good to challenge the stories we tell ourselves, especially those that begin "I’m not the kind of person who..." With that in mind I allowed myself to be talked into being made up for the occasion (thanks, Vikki!). My main concern was that the heavy black and white face paint might not come off. It did (eventually!) but I think I was still sporting a little hair glitter into the offi...

Check out our top posts for the past month. Posts are listed by number of page views they attracted during the month, most popular first. What Newcastle Recovery College Means To Me To Pieces Our Top Posts of the Month (September 2018) My Most Recent (Serious) Suicide Attempt How Can I Best Help My Bipolar Friend? Attending a Self-Harm Awareness Session at ReCoCo Seeing Red: A Look at Bipolar Anger Let’s Talk about Talking: Three Conversation Types for a Mutually Caring Relationship Things That Help Announcing Our New Creative Partnership with Eliezer Tristan Publishing Our most visited pages were: Contact Us Resources About Us Our book: High Tide Low Tide News and Appearances Testimonials  

By Peter McDonnell This weekend my brother Will is home from Bristol, a rare things these days unfortunately. I live with my mum in my childhood home and my dad lives close by. At the moment we have just finished dinner and now we are sharing things on our electronic devices and relaxing. Will doesn’t share my opinion that my new Samsung Galaxy Smartwatch is worth every penny; unnecessary is the essence of his words. I agreed in part, but I have been looking for a nice watch recently and it makes so much sense to have a smartwatch instead of a normal one that could only tell time and date, even if it was emblazoned discretely with a mid-range maker labelling like ‘Citizen’ or ‘Seiko’. My new watch is like having James Bond’s watch. There are vast options for different designs for the watch face which on its own would be a clincher for the fashion conscious. Will told us about his recent shenanigans over dinner and desert. He is learning to drive and we talked about that too, and w...

By David Montgomery   “No one is too far away to be cared for or to care.” It’s all about what we do and how we share. There's so many little things we can say or post To let others know that they matter most.  

Anyone can get angry but bipolar disorder can take rage to unprecedented extremes. What is bipolar anger, what triggers it, and how can it be managed? In this article we’re going to explore bipolar anger. Examples are drawn from my experience as caregiver to my best friend Fran, and others happy to share their stories. What Does Bipolar Anger Feel Like? It would be hard to improve on this description: “Bipolar anger is impulsive, intense, erratic, and explosive. It is being asked a simple question and responding with irrational anger and/or irritation. It is lashing out, for no logical reason, on those that love and care for you. It’s driving down the road and whetting the blade of your pocket knife on the side mirror because someone is driving too close to you. It is the inability to listen to rational behavior and even answering the question ‘why?’” (Mariah) Others also talked about its explosive nature: “I can ignore issues for only so long then my anger towards another ...

By Quinn Brown Hi guys, I just want to quickly mention Let’s Talk Mental Health, a newly formed annual series of events in different places that are dedicated to encouraging people to talk openly about mental illness. I did an event in Selby which went really well and now I’ll be doing an event in Leeds on the 17th of November. I have NINE speakers involved and the evening will be quite a moving one to say the least. Here’s the final poster for the event and I’ll be promoting it over the next couple of weeks. I will be speaking to one of the speakers two days after the event on her radio show and I’ll be discussing everything about the event so do please check that out when you get chance. More information on that coming soon. Follow Let’s Talk Mental Health on Facebook and Twitter .  

Fran’s words from a few days ago are still with me: “The truest response is letting go ...” Yes... let go of pain, of joy, of aching, of delight ... Do not hold on to any of it. Let it rise, have its moment, and go, to be replaced by what arises in its stead ... externally and within you. Offer minimal resistance to what arises ... Let it pass through you, joyously, gratefully ... We cling, we hold on, from fear. Fear of losing what was never ours to begin with. Fear of daring to reach for what is within our grasp. This moment is all that you will ever own. It is what you have brought into being, it is what you were brought into being to experience, herenow. You are the universe’s gift to itself in this moment. No other has been granted this gift. Accept it, take it in your hands, examine its shape, colours, textures. Allow it fully into your awareness ... And let it go again ... Life is not a lesson, though you can choose to see it as such. Life is not a trial, though you are free t...

By Andrew Turman Trigger Warning: Suicide This article was originally published August 2017. To set the scene: my Daddy’s birthday is the ninth of July. By the first of August of last year, I was in a full blown psychotic depression, my first. To let you know how bad things were, let me say that the whole space-time continuum had warped on me. Somehow, Rebecca would go to the store and return home before she actually left. Not really, but it was truth in my mind. I could not even do simple math, nor could I operate a calculator. I was psychotically depressed. Symptoms of a psychotic depression include the symptoms of a major depressive episode, along with one or more psychotic symptoms, including delusions and/or hallucinations . Delusions can be classified as mood congruent or incongruent, depending on whether or not the nature of the delusions is in keeping with the individual’s mood state. Common themes of mood congruent delusions include guilt, punishment, personal inade...

By Kati Rocky I have been writing children’s and teen television for over two decades, and while I enjoy my work I was longing to dive into something meaty and serious. I have bipolar disorder, though I didn’t as a teen, and decided I wanted to write a story on the subject. Since I’m familiar with the young adult audience and how to connect with them and entertain them, I chose them as my demographic. Before I wrote my novel, To Pieces , I studied the fiction that was out there that dealt with the subject matter so that I wasn’t redundant. I found precious little. There are a few books that have bipolar protagonists, but none of them rang true for me. Writers got the depression right, but the mania was all wrong. This prevailing inauthenticity only furthered my conviction to write the book. I wanted to create a work that got the condition right. The story flowed from me fairly quickly but getting the book published was a lengthy and arduous process. Editors really didn’t seem to...

Image credit: Sharon McCutcheon / Unsplash I wrote recently about how I came to enrol at Newcastle Recovery College (ReCoCo) and a little of what the college means to me and my friend Vikki Beat. Vikki is a student, volunteer, and course facilitator at ReCoCo. The first class I enrolled for was a self-harm awareness session led by Steve O’Driscoll who I first met several years ago when I began volunteering for Time to Change. The following description is taken from the ReCoCo website : A 2.5 hour session delivered by Steve O’Driscoll who self-harmed for over 20 years and managed to overcome his problems and now shares his experiences to help and support others and also facilitates a group in Newcastle to support people who self-harm. The session is very relaxed and there is plenty of opportunity to ask those unanswered questions around a subject that is still taboo to many in society. I arrived at Anderson House in plenty of time and made myself a cup of coffee wh...

Check out our top posts for the past month. Posts are listed by number of page views they attracted during the month, most popular first. Announcing Our New Creative Partnership with Eliezer Tristan Publishing Let’s Talk about Talking: Three Conversation Types for a Mutually Caring Relationship Even the Good Things: A Lesson in Letting Go Letters to Daniel Mental vs Physical Illness: Stigma and Disability Things That Help An Open Letter to My Bipolar Best Friend Not to Punish but to Understand How to Write the Best Acknowledgement Page for Your Book Be the Best Yourself You Can Be Our most visited pages were: Resources Contact Us News and Appearances About Us Our book: High Tide Low Tide Testimonials  

By Martin Baker and Vikki Beat Image credit: Alisdair Cameron Newcastle Recovery College Collective (ReCoCo) is a joint venture between various organisations in the north east of England, “by and for service users and carers. [It is] a place where service users are able to make connections and develop their knowledge and skills in relation to recovery.” I first heard about ReCoCo through folk I’ve met volunteering with Time to Change . I was intrigued and checked their website out a couple of times but hadn’t taken it any further until this July when my friend Vikki Beat invited me to attend the end of term party . The event also marked the college’s relocation from Broadacre House to its new home just down the road in Anderson House. I didn’t know many people at the party but I felt very welcome. I even had a dance! I remember thinking it would be great to work more closely with the college in some way but I couldn’t see how that might work as sessions are held during the wee...