Mental Health & Halloween

Friday 31st October 2014
10:36am

So the other year ASDA and Tesco hit the news with their Halloween Costume related to mental health and now there seems to be a local campaign to stop places like Spooky World and Farmagedon to stop using worlds like Asylum to describe their attractions.  As someone who has mental health issues, I do wonder how we are taking this, are we making more of an issue or not making enough of the issue?   I think it is a debate which will be carried on every year until the end of time as we try and be politically correct.  Words we use now to describe other may in the next 50 years be classed as not PC and that generation can't believe we said certain words.

My ex's uni halls where on a old Asylum ground in Huddersfield.  The main building was still there but was fenced off to the public and seemed to be guarded by a man and his dog 24/7.  Rather than finding it scary, I found it really upsetting but interesting at the same time.  Storthes Hall was only closed in 1991 - the year I was born.  Every time I saw it on went to Huddersfield what got to me more was if I'd have been around through the time it was open how different my treatment could have been.  We could be celebrating how far the system has come, yes we still have a way to go but we are no longer hosing people down with freezing cold water and some of the other  terrible treatment which was tested through previous years. The site where the grounds were the halls are are said to be haunted by old patients who had died there, yes the building is eery, but it is a stark reminder to those in the system today actually how "lucky" we are, despite at times not feeling like it.

It's been half term this week, something which I've never enjoyed, I like my routine and being able to know what is happening on certain days, I feel a lot more settled.  Most days I've been able to have something in to get me out the flat and not allow my mood to drop to drastically.

I've been able to do another tape for my college and I am so grateful to the people who have helped me with that.  The trip yesterday brought back a few memories, as I am sure I'd been around the area with my mum when she used to take me out on little drives when I was in hospital, so it was positive to see how far I have come since I was an inpatient.

Again, I spent a couple of Halloween's in hospital, I always remember coming back from community trip and one of the patients had carved out pumkins while we had been out and helped decorate the unit, despite the fact we didn't go out trick-a-treating or have any intention was wanting to eat any sweets we still tried to have a "normal" day.

Things with JBL have been going well, we have projects on the go and hopefully we will be working with a local high school in Warrington, who's work deserves so much credit for the support they are giving their students.  I just wish other schools could be doing the same and taking lead.

So what ever you choose to do tonight, enjoy yourself and enjoy all your sweets!

x x x x

By 2020 ...

Wednesday 8th October 2014
08:24pm

So Nick Clegg has come into the news around the Lib Dems policy for mental health - by 2020 mental health patients should have a similar waiting to list for treatment as patients who have cancer.  Are we finally as a society realising that mental health can be just as deadly as cancer?  Knowing that just one of my diagnosis (anorexia) has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness - just shows to be honest how important changes to the system need to be.

I received the news on Monday that after 1 year 1 month and 27 (ish) days I am finally at the top of the waiting list for therapy.  To say I was happy was an understatement - I got off the phone and cried with relief.  My first few years in the mental health system I battled everyone, I didn't want help as I really believed I was okay.  The past year or so I have realised how much I really need to take the plunge and have the therapy I know I need, I'm scared yes but I'm ready.

The past few months I won't lie have been testing.  I have wanted to just give in to my thoughts - I've not but I think I've given in more days then I would have liked to.  On a bad day I realise how easy it would be to just give in to the persisting thoughts  and get on and end my life, on a good day I realise the positives and can ignore and continue as normally as possible without giving my thoughts to much of a worry.

My confidence is slowly building with college.  I believe I've coped okayish with a couple of hurdles which I have already faced, but feeling watched at my reactions been monitored is really hard especially with I know I just want to get my self to a safe place and either just have a good old scream or cry.

JBL had a school talk last week which also worked in well with the #yachall through the Young DPULO Ambassador side - tackling perceptions around disability is so important.

I really hope that the promises which are starting to be made for by the end of 2020 are taken seriously.  There is a massive need for improvement - I've been lucky in the fact that during my wait any episodes I have had the support of friends and family.

Let's see if this can be done, let's hope that mental health services can be improved ...