Gum on My Shoe

A couple of months ago I attended a Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) Awareness workshop at Newcastle Recovery College Collective (ReCoCo). The two day workshop covered the purpose and structure of Wellness Recovery Action Plans, and invited us to consider drawing up our own. In this article I’m sharing the WRAP I put together after attending the workshop, with a few changes I’ve made since then and minor edits for privacy. I make no claim that this is “how to do a WRAP” but it works for me. I will update it as my needs and situation change, and as my understanding of WRAP grows. Wellness Recovery Action Plan Martin Baker, January 2019   My Wellness Tools These things help keep me well. Calls and chat with Fran and other trusted friends Diary / journaling Taking regular me time Coffee shops Walking Blogging Listening to music Meditation Planning / calendar (help with staying organised)   What I’m Like When I Am Well When I feel like this I am do...

This article was originally published as a guest post on Peter McDonnell’s blog. I am grateful to Peter for inviting me to guest on his blog. He didn’t set a specific topic so as I sit here in one of my favourite coffee shops on a Saturday morning I’m wondering what to write about. What to share. On the table beside me is the book I have been re-reading for the first time in decades: John Powell’s Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am? It’s not a book about mental health as such. It is a book about communication; about sharing our truths, doubts, fears, delights, and hang-ups with one another; and in so doing, allowing understanding and compassion to grow. (It is Powell’s contention that only by being honest and open with others can we come to know ourselves.) And that is of relevance to all of us, whether we live with a mental health diagnosis or not. This kind of honest communication is fundamental to the close, caring, mutually supportive relationship I have with my best ...

By Charlotte Underwood Creating and maintaining new relationships is incredibly hard for me. I am so used to people leaving me or even taking advantage. It seems that it can prove a real task to find someone who is willing to take the time to listen, to understand and to develop something more than having you as the person they only talk to when they are bored or need advice. I do not think I am an amazing friend, I don’t see myself as a special person but I am someone who can see the way people respond to me. This is what I want them to know, if a friendship is to grow: 1. I Am Introverted I am a born introvert, and while I certainly had better years with more confidence, I have always thrived in my own space. I like the quiet and emptiness of my own home sometimes. I get overwhelmed with social events, they exhaust me so please understand I need to recover. I don’t like phone calls and even messaging a person can stress me out. I know I am bad at replying but it’s not personal...

Number 3 in my list of six things I would quite like to do in 2019 is the hope for some joyful moments that would take me out of myself. On that score my year is off to a great start after meeting up with mental health blogger Aimee Wilson last weekend. We first met three years ago at an event organised for Newcastle Mental Health Day 2016 . I was volunteering for Time to Change and Aimee was running the social media side of things. We’ve met several times since then, mostly at mental health events or volunteering . This was the first time we’d arranged to meet up as friends and we were both really looking forward to it. One key thing we have in common is that we each blog on mental health topics, and this was very much a “Bloggers’ Day Out.” We both started blogging in 2013. Aimee began I’m NOT disordered in January of that year and we were also meeting to celebrate her blog’s success and sixth anniversary. With close to half a million readers, it is a success worth celebr...

By Peter McDonnell I realise that some people reading this article might not be enjoying their mental health at the moment. I would like you to know that it is possible for things to improve. January 2018 – “Let’s just keep all the good stuff and lose all the bad stuff.” As a result, at the end of 2018 I find myself more confident and outgoing. I was already doing very well in those areas twelve months ago but now my brain is serving up witty stories and points of general interest in a familiar, effortless, appropriate fashion, sometimes in a magical way. I’m not arrogant or egotistical so I like to control myself in social situations when I feel like my confidence is getting away from me. I have been reminding myself that other people are simply not as interested in many of the things that delight me, and so I pass the conversation on to other people too and just listen for a bit, becoming interested in them and their lives. I have two mental illnesses, psychosis and anxiety. ...

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. The Ostrich Egg: My Journey to Mental Wealth Our Top Posts of the Month (November 2018) Five Fun Adventures to Enjoy with a Friend Who Has Bipolar Disorder Seven Things I’d Quite Like to Do in 2018 — How Did I Get On? The Sounds of Silence How to Write the Best Acknowledgement Page for Your Book Season’s Greetings Seeing Red: A Look at Bipolar Anger Attending a Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) Workshop at ReCoCo What Newcastle Recovery College Means To Me Our most visited pages were: Contact Us Resources About Us Our book: High Tide Low Tide News and Appearances Testimonials  

By Jen Evans My friend Marty wrote down some things he’d quite like to do this year and I liked his idea so much that I thought I’d do the same. I’ve never been one for resolutions. They always seemed too resolute and never last because I think I literally expected too much of myself. But cultivating and harvesting ... a slow, gradual harvest over the year, that seems reasonable. When I think of cultivating, I think of habits that take time to build and maintain, and have to be worked on each day, or a set amount of time each week, in order for them to harvest. Here is what I’d like to cultivate and harvest this season. 1. Three times a week, I would like to write down in a journal all the things I am grateful for during that week. 2. Meditate twice a week and log it or write about the experience. 3. Cultivate a healthier me. To me this looks like a girl who makes healthier choices around food and who likes the way she looks in a mirror. I’d like to get down to 200 lbs. An...

At the start of 2017 and the start of 2018 I listed a number of things I would “quite like to do” during the respective years. I’ve had a lot of fun - and some challenges - with this and I want to continue in the same vein. Here then is my list for 2019. I’ll let you know how I get on! You can see how I did in previous years here: 2017 | 2018 . 1. Take Three Well-being Courses I took two excellent courses at Newcastle Recovery College Collective (ReCoCo) towards the end of 2018. The first was on self-harm awareness . The second was a Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) Awareness workshop . I have worked on – and used – my WRAP plan since taking the workshop, which is a testament to how useful the classes were. In the coming year I’d like to take three additional well-being / personal development courses, not necessarily at ReCoCo. The health of any friendship is the responsibility of both parties but I have a history of being either “way too much” or “not enough” in my r...