Gum on My Shoe

By Charlotte Underwood What is our identity? Isn’t it just a compilation of every moment between our first breath and our last? It’s our name, our background – our story. Our identity has to be who we are, surely? “You are the author of your life” is a quote that really changed my thinking. Our life, our time on this earth creates our own novel, where we are the main character. Each event, each heartbreak and tear of joy creates a story that tells others who we are. We have the ability to shape our lives, to make a novel, the book of our life, as simple or as extravagant as we desire. However, I do have this problem, this little tick that sticks like a thorn in my mind. Who am I, really? I struggle a lot with understanding my identity. It’s not a split personality thing, more of an uncertainty of my true self. Years of abuse and bullying have left me confused with my own self. It seems that as soon as I think I am being true to myself, I get uncomfortable in my own skin. This i...

By Jen Evans How came you to this place and why? It’s never as simple as a stone. She sways unto the voices, hearing all and heeding none. she is collecting a myth — a tiny island away from ghosts, and each twig procures a remedy. She missteps with one foot in the water. Is there nothing colder than my lord’s love? This is warmer and deeper. She summons the sand, his hand smoothing salt on her neck. How the sun dried each grain to their bodies. She never wanted to bathe. And the sun gave her a parting gift. Too much light isn’t enough for some. Another foot in the river. Oh for a simpler life, a smaller hamlet further from the shore.   In memory of Heidi Sue. My best friend and soul sister. May 28, 1972 – December 30, 1993. Love Jen  

Almost exactly a year ago I wrote about visiting Wylam Brewery Tap Room at the Palace of Arts in Exhibition Park, Newcastle. I returned today and as I sit (inside, because there’s some sort of food festival going on outside in the beer garden) I am thinking back over the months that have passed since I was here last. My wife Pam and I have enjoyed three vacations in Cumbria: a week last July in Bowness, a week in October just outside Brough, and a week this April in Appleby. Christmas was spent quietly at home. In March we travelled down to Liverpool with our two adult children for my mother’s funeral. At work, well I’m still “doing the same job in the same place” which hasn’t challenged me for quite some time. However, as of the past two weeks I am feeling far more optimistic and engaged. She refuses to take any of the credit but this is very much down to my brilliant boss Judith, with buy in and encouragement from senior management all the way up to and including our Chief Exec....

Today — Saturday, May 19, 2018 — is the day of the Royal Wedding. I wish Harry and Meghan well in their life together but I brought myself out to the coast to avoid the media, and social media, onslaught. It’s just not something I feel a part of. Here at Tynemouth there is calm and space and air and sky and sea. And a bench where I can sit and write. A week ago I was also writing. Not here but in the café at the city library. At the suggestion of my boss Judith I was drafting a piece about Mental Health Awareness Week for the corporate blog at the company I work for. I submitted the article on Monday morning. It was published Tuesday lunchtime and to be honest I’ve been blown away by the response. It’s been picked up by management up to and including our CEO. I have a meeting next week with one of the senior managers to explore how I can get involved with the company’s mental health initiatives. This week has also seen me out twice socially. That’s not a typo — TWICE! Both eve...

By Roiben We all hope in today’s society with its constant rush and pressure that people can still be good, helpful and polite. That we would, upon seeing a person in need, stop like the much-fabled good Samaritan, and help. That we would hold doors open, offer to carry heavy bags and help an older person across the road. However, there is such thing as being a little over-eager to help and perhaps misguided in how to go about it. I have recently begun using a long cane. Michael Cane, my new and trusty friend, is helping me get about my daily life. I had been warned that using the cane does have its drawbacks, in attracting overly helpful people. It was still a shock to the system when it happened. I was walking a well-known route from an underground station to work. This involves crossing a few roads. I stopped at the traffic lights to the first road and prepared to wait for the lights to change. Out of nowhere a man grabbed my right arm (the arm holding the cane). He had said...

“You’re stuck with me now, Frannie. I hope you realise that.” “Like gum on my shoe.” Fran and I are a team. Team Gum. That’s the starting point for pretty much everything we do, especially in the mental health arena. Our book . Our blog. Our social media presence . Podcasts. Interviews. Events. Book readings. Everything . There are no hard and fast rules for how we balance things between the two of us and with the many other aspects of our lives. It depends on the nature of the work itself, our individual skills, experience, and preferences. It also depends on our commitments, health, and whatever else may be going on in our lives at the time. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how it all works for us. Mental Health Experience and Awareness It is no secret that before I met Fran I had little knowledge or awareness of mental health. Fran had a lifetime’s worth which she shared, and continues to share, openly and honestly. Mania. Depression. Suicidality. Fatigu...

By Roiben I was first offered the Orientation and Mobility Training to use a cane when I was a teenager. At that time the last thing I wanted was something else to differentiate me from my peers. I always regretted that decision. As I grew older and travelled further and more often, the idea of something which could help things be a bit better became more appealing. So when, at the beginning of the year, my Sensory Services adviser from the local council suggested putting me forward for Mobility Training I naturally agreed. Today I had my first meeting with the Mobility Officer and she agreed that a Long Cane would be good for me. I got to try a cane to see how it felt. Even from those few steps in my small flat I felt the potential. I am now booked in for once weekly training in using a cane, with specific focus on stairs, walking in the street and a little on using escalators. The specifics and focus change from person to person depending on individual needs. In my case these ...

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