Gum on My Shoe

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...

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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...