There's Always Light at the End of the Tunnel

Have you ever talked about mental health? Have you ever wanted to talk about mental health but were afraid?   Our society has developed a stigma around mental health making it a taboo subject . Maybe it is the fear of the unknown or maybe it is that people feel there is no need to talk about mental health, whatever the reason may be it is because we don't talk about mental health that it is a taboo. This silence of mental health needs to change and it needs to change now. It is because of this stigma   that many people are suffering in silence to scared and often ashamed to seek help. This May is Green Ribbon month. All throughout May, Green Ribbons will be given out to people, free of charge to encourage people to begin to talk openly about mental health. It is hoped that like the pink ribbon which is associated with Brest cancer the green ribbon will too be associated with something, this however will be mental health. Green ribbon month is not about making money but ...

Do you have a story you can share to provide hope for those suffering from depression? Well if you do I have the perfect way for you to share that story. Stories of hope is a group of people who are trying to achieve an ebook with a difference. They are asking people to share their stories of their experiences with depression and how they got through it. The aim of this is to show others that it is possible to get through depression. Just because its an illness it doesn't mean that it has to be an illness for life. When I asked what a member of the group behind stories of hope what it was all about this is what was said. "What we are trying to achieve is a ebook with a difference, instead of concentrating on the negative side of depression we want people to see that it is possible to overcome depression. The book is aimed at people currently suffering from depression to prove to them that there is a way out!" Being someone who has suffered from depress...

A day children all around the world spend pampering their mothers and give them boxes of chocolates and flowers. I like many others around the world today cannot spend my day with my amazing mum rather I must go to her grave and spend some time there with her. I don’t feel sorry for myself on mother’s day instead I take this day to remember back on all the fun times I have had with my mum. I don’t let these memories of me and my mum get me sad on mother’s day I let them bring a smile to my face like she would have wanted. Yes mother’s day is hard when you don’t have your mum with you but just because she is not physically here doesn’t mean she is not here. I do sometimes get upset in the running up to mother’s day but when the day itself comes I put all my sadness over my mums death behind me and I focus on the time I did have with my mum and the times that she made me smile and laugh just like a mother does. My mum is my inspiration without her loving voice inside my head ...

In the recent months social media has been seen as a cause of many youth suicides due to cyber bullying and as much as I believe that social media can have a bad effect on a person’s mental health due to things such as cyber bullying I also believe that it can have a good effect on a person’s mental health if it is used correctly. Now you may disagree with me but this is my view and my opinion so just hear me out before deciding not to read the rest of this post. Here are a few of the reasons as to why I believe social media can be good for a person’s mental health if used correctly: ·          You can connect and reconnect with new or old friends allowing you to develop relationships online which may eventually develop into personal relationships without the use of social media site. This is only good for you mental health thought if you proceed with caution and do not abuse this service of connecting with people.   ·   ...

When my dad and I were working towards recovery together we had many fights about me harming. He couldn’t understand how I was feeling and in turn I couldn’t understand how he was feeling. He helped me to understand how he was feeling and so I had to help him understand how I was feeling. Because he had never suffered from self-harm he was not able to understand and after a while I began to accept that. He did not know how to help me and so it was my job to help him to help me. To do this I had to explain to him why I was self-harming even if he wasn’t able to understand it I had to tell him why so that we were able to talk about things. Once we were able to talk about self-harming we began to talk more. He moved on and learned not to not get angry and annoyed at me for harming but he showed me how upset it made him, he showed me that he cared and he showed me that he wanted to help me. That was enough for me to be able to decide that I needed to help him to know how to help me. ...

Missing someone you love can occur for many reasons. It may occur due to death, separation, divorce and so much more but in my case and in this blog post today I am going to talk about missing someone you love as a result of death. I have talked a lot about the death of my mam on my blog and this was a huge part of my childhood but I also lost another figure in my life who was more than just a granddad to me, he was a friend, he was my best friend. Not a day goes by where I don’t think of my granddad. I have always had a close relationship with my granddad but after my mam died we grew closer. I have built up a lifetime of memories with my granddad and they are the most precious things to me, nobody will ever be able to take them away from me and well I guess I want to share them with the people who read my blog. I find it hard to talk about my granddad sometimes but never  to blog about him, it just flows out of me like a river flows downhill. I always have my grandd...

IF you are feeling suicidal or if you are self-harming there is help out there. There are places to go and talk to people and there is hope that things will get better. One place you can go to if you wish to seek help in overcoming your self-harm is Pieta House. I attended pieta house for one appointment (if I had gone sooner I wouldn’t have ended up to hospital a week later) and first impressions were this place could really help me. It was relaxed and the staff were welcoming and non-judgemental. It was a very friendly environment and to be honest I wish I had gone earlier for treatment! “We are a Suicide and Self-Harm Crisis Centre, offering an accessible, confidential and free-of-charge counselling service. ” So if you are self-harming and in need of some help why not try talking to someone at Pieta house. These services are free of charge and all staff are fully qualified and willing to help those in need and bring about social change.  You can contact Pieta House i...