Gum on My Shoe

This is bigger than us, than you, than this organisation or that service. Let’s park our petty differences, our proprietary selfishness, and be OPENM;NDED. — Alisdair Cameron, Recovery College Collective On Wednesday April 18 I had the pleasure of attending the OPENM;NDED mental health event at The Hancock pub in Newcastle. An evening of meaningful and local music, poetry and performance centred around shared experiences and common stories of mental ill-health. By creatively exploring the topic through music and poetry, we can begin to open up the conversation on mental health, de-stigmatise the topic and encourage recovery and resilience for those experiencing trauma and distress in our community. The event was organised by OPENM;NDED in support of ReCoCo (Recovery College Collective). OPENM;NDED is a group of cross-disciplinary cultural managers, practitioners and researchers brought together through study at Northumbria University. ReCoCo is a joint venture between vario...

Walking into work this morning I found myself thinking about my mother’s house which was cleared and sold last year. A few weeks ago I came across the property listing online, together with photographs of the house cleared for sale. Every room empty including what used to be my bedroom. The first space in the world I could call my own. Walls stripped of wallpaper and painted an aseptic white. Floors clear and sanded. No trace of the home I knew. The décor and furnishings now live only in my memory and a few photos of mine from past visits. I’d suspected for some time that it wouldn’t be long until the house was sold, if it were not already, to cover the cost of my mother’s final years in nursing care. I could have asked someone about it but was content to explore the uncertainty. Looking back on it this morning I smiled to myself, recognising it as a Schrödinger experience . Unless or until I asked the house, my home from birth until the age of eighteen when I left for university, w...

By Charlotte Underwood I guess I just try to be that friend that I really needed when I was younger and alone. In a previous article I mentioned that “I guess I just try to be that friend that I really needed when I was younger and alone.” It was something that came to light as I was writing, a sudden hit of realization as to why I am so empathic. Though it is quite a sad truth, it binds well with my ability to turn even the worst negatives into positives. Today I want to expand on this thought. As I grew up I found it increasingly difficult to make and maintain relationships of any sorts. I did have friends, although they were people I had grown up with and had become accustomed to my behaviours – I wouldn’t say they were close friends but we had known each other for life and that counts for something. At the age of seven I moved to a town about three hours away from my hometown and I knew that I would have to start a new life. I would never see my friends again and would have...

By Alison Hayes International Functional Neurological Disorder Awareness Day this year is Friday April 13, 2018. You can find more information about this condition on the FND Hope website . My first symptom was a shiver. I shook, as if cold, in the warmth of my boyfriend’s arms. When he noticed, and held me closer to try to comfort me, I shivered more, shook worse. My whole body shook. After we broke up, after the repeated suggestions that we get back together, and after his appearing where I didn’t expect him, and him not being in the places I expected him to be, things got worse. One night, in a friend’s room, trying not to think about him, my whole body moved with a sudden flash of motion. Every limb stretched out in the same moment, an abrupt stiffening. Then as suddenly as it happened, it stopped, and my body relaxed a little. What was that? My friend and I looked at one another. I was even more confused than she was. But she was more frightened. After it happened a few more...

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The most anguishing dilemma with chronic illness is when you want to stretch yourself to do something you love, but you know it will challenge your health. A part of you hopes all will be well, hopes maybe you’re getting better, hopes this time you can leave your cage behind. So you do the thing. And like clockwork the giant rubber band slaps and snaps and zaps you back further behind than you were before. Going to the doctor doesn’t help. No answers there. Drugs can’t touch it. There is only the quiet endurance of rest for as long as it takes to regain some ground and pray your mind doesn’t go beforehand. And that your friends don’t leave. Fran Houston 3/22/16  

By Roiben Being ill and signed off work is almost par for the course for most long-term conditions. I say this as someone with more than one such condition. I have had more sick days than “average” and have been officially signed off work more than once. As I write this I have been signed off sick from work since November 2017, with a return to work set for 5 March 2018. I have used my time off to actively work on improving my health and well-being. Specifically, my Mental Health, which is the reason for being signed off. So, what can someone do to make being signed off sick, and the subsequent return to work, as smooth and successful as possible? Firstly, I would recommend having a good working relationship with your HR (Human Resources) contact. Try not to see them as the enemy (as some stigma and work cultures can make them seem). Be honest with them – they cannot help you if you do not express your needs and how you are doing. Once signed off, keep in contact with your wor...