This uncertainty over residential status is a wide doorway into despondency, and it’s worse when the politics of the day is mired with anti-immigrant sentiment… more
Firepits in frosty places: the migrant’s search for community
Tag: community
Alternatives to Suicide: where can we go next?
Content note: discussion of suicide and suicidality “Should I press the button?” Nancy asks. My stomach flutters as I look… more
Sticking to the Rules: Safe for Who?
Services must work reflexively with people to be truly ‘trauma-informed’. Sticking to strict procedures prevents them tailoring their approach to create the safety and care people really need, causing extra harm instead of the help they promise…. more
Turning toward the people who are not safe
It isn’t in our power to save every human being, but it is in our power to nurture that essence, that turning towards us with the will to stay alive…. more
Gaslit & Dismissed: The Truth for Chronically Ill and Neurodivergent Patients
The NHS promotes mental health for both its staff and patients but there seems to be a huge disconnect between their promotion and their practice. … more
Surviving Restrictive and Least Restrictive Practice: ‘Hold me up, don’t hold me down’
I believe the solution cannot be found without structural change within services. We need policy makers to sit back and listen, carefully…. more
Book Review: Gargi Bhattacharyya’s ‘We, the Heartbroken’
‘This is a good-sized book!’ was my first impression of We, The Heartbroken when I unleashed it out of its… more
An interview with Survivors’ Poetry Events Coordinator, Debbie McNamara
“We experience relief & gratitude in sharing our work… people get to meet others from around the world who become friends & allies, our struggles become collective, we heal each other with our words & songs, we overcome the fragmentation & alienation caused by trauma, we use our poetry to manage overwhelming emotions & make sense of our experiences, to document extraordinary times in our lives, to revisit difficulty with new eyes, to celebrate where we have reached, to tell our stories; we revive hope.”… more
‘Being with’ not ‘doing to’: violence, harm, and police involvement in mental health services
Read NSUN’s chapter in ‘Holding Our Own: A guide to non-policing solutions to serious youth violence’ … more
An interview with emerging outsider artist, Mud
Art speaks where words fail, though sometimes they work in conjunction. Facilitating these tough discussions through a visual medium is my way of helping the mental health community. … more
Alternatives to mental health crisis support: are we asking the right questions?
We need alternatives which don’t yet exist in this country, because the starting point is always to look at what currently exists, rather than ask ourselves instead what is missing…. more
Back to Ends: Racialised Men & Safeguarding
The statistics for racialised communities and the damage that’s enacted due to improper safeguarding and care are quite telling… NHS figures from 2020 revealed that Black communities in England were four times more likely to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act… more