Trigger Warning: the article contains references to mental health crisis and suicide   

The 10th October was World Mental Health Day, a day when we come together to raise awareness about mental health and the actions we can take to support ourselves and each other.   

Sadly, mental health continues to be something which isn’t spoken about enough, both here in the UK and around the world. The result unfortunately is that many people find themselves unable access support when they need it most -...

January is well known as a traditional time to make new year resolutions. But I don’t think I’m alone in saying this; by the end of the month I haven’t been able to keep up with them. Life gets in the way, unexpected events happen, and therefore I haven’t been able to fully commit to my new year resolutions. This can lead to us feeling despondent, and worse still, giving ourselves a hard time for not being able to achieve these goals.

This year has started different, thanks to what I have learn...

Two of the persistent symptoms I experienced when I was ill with depression was lack of appetite and sleep disruption. Every day for over 100 days.

Aiming to eat three meals a day is incredibly difficult when you don’t have an appetite. Restoration for our body and mind is incomplete due to sleep disruption. Not being able to eat and sleep, at a time when we most need to eat and sleep, is cruel.

People say this is mental illness, but it does also affects us physically. We need food and sleep i...

Out of all the letters in the alphabet, there is one letter which covers an array of wonderful values. This is the letter P.

P is Possibilities. P is for Progress. P is Pride. P is Powerful. Other P’s include:

All of these above P words are Empowering. They allow us to live in the Present moment.

It gives us hope with Possibility, Potential, Plans.

Creativity gives us Poems, Paint, Pen & Paper.

Exercise gives us Pace, Physical, Parks

Good manners include Patience, Polite, Please.

And be...

Blog article written October 2017

I’ve been a mother throughout my unwanted yet unavoidable episodes of depressive illness. I’ve been ill with clinical depression on three occasions over the past 5 years, and one of my biggest challenges at the time of being unwell, was to protect my children throughout this period.

Depression is bleak. The things that usually give us joy turn bleak. It’s difficult to find pleasure in anything. It’s hard to physically function. We can experience physical sympt...

Welcome to February.

Winter is almost behind us. We are on the last leg and we've survived 100% of the winter days. Spring is just around the corner, lighter evenings and warmer weather awaits us. We will soon start seeing nature waking up with spring blossom and new flowers blooming.

February does have some lovely features:

• Lighter evenings. At the beginning of February the sunset is 4.55pm. By the end of February the sunset will be 5.40pm. We are already enjoying the evenings getting ligh
...

It’s Winter. It’s dark when we wake up, and often dark before we get home. It can be harder to get out of bed as our bodies go into some kind of ‘hibernation’ state. And who are we to argue with nature? There’s a reason why hedgehogs, bats and bears hibernate for the winter months!

There’s no doubt that something does happen to our body in these darker months. You have to dig deeper for motivation, which in itself can be exhausting. Telling myself alone ‘You must be more motivated’ just isn’t c...

January is well known as a traditional time to make new year resolutions. But I don’t think I’m alone in saying this; by the end of the month I haven’t been able to keep up with them. Life gets in the way, unexpected events happen, and therefore I haven’t been able to fully commit to my new year resolutions. This can lead to us feeling despondent, and worse still, giving ourselves a hard time for not being able to achieve these goals.

This year has started different, thanks to what I have learn...

This blog article comes from Sandra, a peer support volunteer at Meridian Wellbeing. We share the personal story and empowerment of those who have struggled with their mental health. 

My first experience with depression was in 2004 following the death of my mother. No-one can describe the feeling adequately and you will not understand fully until you experience it for yourself, but I will try to explain.

I chose to keep working. I needed a sense of some kind of normal, routine in my life, ever...

Out of our five vital organs, our Brain and our Heart have the biggest jobs in managing the various functions of our body. Although these organs are cloaked within us and therefore not visual, when we talk about our heart and brain we are often able to conjure up an image.

This is what a graphic designer and cartoonist by the name of Nick Seluk has achieved. Nick has created a popular series of cartoons called Heart and Brain; which follows the inner dialogue between the cynical, society-influe...