There's Always Light at the End of the Tunnel

In the past the government have made many promises to people and have not followed through with their promises, one such promise is the promise of funds being given to the mental health sector in order to improve mental health services and increase staff numbers to allow a better service being provided to the nation regarding mental health. The mental health reform have lunched an eight week pre-budget campaign calling on the government to "Do what works for mental health" by investing in measures that are known to be both effective and cost-effective for improving peoples mental health. This year the Irish mental health reform have decided to do something in order to try and make a difference to the outcome of the October budget, this is something which I highly agree. Mental health reform are asking the government to do what works for mental health. They are asking the government to provide a range of multidisciplinary staff offering a choice of treatment options, provi...

When people hear the word addiction they think of drugs, alcohol, gambling or even tobacco but never do they think of self harm as being an addiction. I used to be a self-harmer thankfully I have control over it at the moment but during my stint in hospital I was told that self harm was my addiction. I had a hard time believing this but after a while I began to accept it. I thought about it realistically, during this point in my life self harm was everything to me, I couldn't function without it in my life similar to the way a person is dependant on drugs when they have a drug addiction. It was hard to for me to get used to the idea of my self harm being considered an addiction, what once began as a way of letting out the pain was now being classed as an addiction. I didn't want to believe it but after a while I realised it was true. My self harm was my way of coping, it was may way of looking for help and after time it had developed into an addiction. I couldn't get enou...

Surrounded by darkness and falling, falling fast. I was lost and didn't know where to turn, everywhere I looked I could see nothing but darkness. I was entering into my own personal black hole something which I now know was my depression. I was trapped and I couldn't see a way out, there was nothing but darkness. I was trapped inside my mind and there was no way out.  You feel alone and trapped with no hope of escape but that is just the depression, there are many people around you supporting you, rooting for you and showing you that things can get better and things do get better. It is hard to describe depression but that statement above written by myself is a pretty good picture of what depression feels like from my own personal experience anyway. People sometimes say that depression is not an illness and that it is all made up...... it is these people who I can not stand, who I believe are the main contributors to the mental health stigma which is present in todays...

Today the group all headed out to Dún Laoghaire for a photo shoot to launch the second year of Label Jars Not People. We were delighted that Norah Casey, noted publishing entrepreneur and broadcaster, joined us and was more than happy to support our project as she too does work to promote positive mental health with Walk in My shoes. It was an enjoyable day and a great way to get our new year off to a start. We would like to thank Ms Casey for joining us and supporting our project. Check out some of the photos below, we struggled a bit when we ere told to have serious faces but we managed somewhat :)

"Hope  is the state which promotes the belief in good outcomes related to events and circumstances in one's life." Source  Four letters make up such a small word with a huge meaning, a word which can mean something different fro each person and a word which can mean the difference between life and death at times. While I was in hospital hope meant that I could get better and get through the tough time I was experiencing and while I am not better and still suffer from depression and self-harm thoughts I did get through that tough time in my life and I believe that if I did not have hope I would have never made it through that time. The times where I sat completing taking my own life it was having hope that things could improve that stopped me. The times I didn't have hope were the times I went through with suicide attempts. Now at the present moment, which is the moment I always try to live in, hope means that I can continue to fight my depression, keep the ...