Reducing the stigma around mental health
Today is World Suicide Prevention Day. We have put together a collection of our favourite, hardest hitting and most touching pieces on suicide. These articles have been put together by you, our readers, showing the real life impact of suicide and suicidal ideation. Your Stories on World Suicide Prevention Day Continue Reading
By Tina Blacksmith I remember listening to Linkin Park every day. I would sing along with Mike because it was easier than singing with Chester. Then as I got older, I stopped listening to them and found other bands. So when I saw the headline on July 20th, it was Continue Reading
TED Talks on Suicide for World Suicide Prevention Day Sunday 10th September is World Suicide Prevention Day. As such, we thought we would look back at some of our favourite and most inspiring Ted talks on suicide. When I was struggling the most, I found talks like these to be Continue Reading
By Jake Catterall Dear Gorgeous, I write this because I don’t know how to say it with words. It’s a letter to you explaining who I am, and why I appreciate everything you do. This is unedited, raw and painful to write. We just had a massive argument, possibly the Continue Reading
By Jody Elford I haven’t posted on my blog in ages and ages. I felt I didn’t need to. But I’ve been seeming well, not feeling well. Truth be told, I forgot all about it, until this morning when Facebook group One in Four (here) posted an invitation for people Continue Reading
By Samuel Cridland Everyone knows growing up is tough. Unfortunately growing up is tougher for some than it is for others, particularly those of us who are surviving mental illness. Through my teenage years I found it incredibly difficult to survive in the education system, due to the social groupings Continue Reading
By Patrick A. Roland The following is an extract from the book Unpacked Sparkle by Patrick A. Roland So began six days of being locked up in a mostly padded room in a long hallway of corridors that led nowhere, except to the center of the beauty I had finally Continue Reading
By Joe Doyle My father, Hugh Anthony Doyle, met Kathleen O’Meara, daughter of Joseph O’Meara, around 1974. My father moved to her home town, Newcastle, County Down, and married her on Sunday 12th September 1976. I was born Anthony Joseph Doyle on March 26th 1978. My mother died on April Continue Reading
By Dan Briggs I’ve tried to make a conscious effort to stop using the word ‘normal’, because what does it actually mean? What is normal? And who decides it? Because I have depression, am I somehow abnormal? For too many years my depression defined me. I was made to feel Continue Reading
By Katrina Bruni As a nation, we are improving our awareness of mental health. Digital media has thankfully played a positive part in this, and we are able to spread the message more widely and independently. But for years, mental health denial has persisted. Mental health has been covered up, Continue Reading
By Neil Hodge Just for hippies? “MEDITATION? – IT’LL NEVER WORK FOR ME!” If you’re anything like me, when someone first suggested meditating to help me deal with my anxiety and depression I laughed. But I soon found out that meditation isn’t just for hippies! At the time my mental Continue Reading
By Lowri Smith Conditional love – love that is only given if you meet a certain criteria or set of rules or demands placed on you. “Wow I’m so proud of you that you got all As!” And that was it. That was all you got and you never knew Continue Reading