Published in Invisible Illness·May 5, 20204 Things Every Mental Health Sufferer Needs To HearOur attitude towards our mental health issues has a massive impact on how well we cope with them. Other people can help us by saying supportive things, so raising mental heath awareness is important. But, the most vital thing is actually what we tell ourselves. As a therapist in recovery…Mental Health5 min read
Published in Invisible Illness·Mar 30, 2020How Buddhism Helped My Mental HealthIf you had told me 20 years ago that I’d now be siting peacefully in a hall listening to a bald guy in saffron robes, I’d have called you crazy. Firstly, I didn’t expect to live another two decades. And secondly, if I had somehow managed to survive my mental…Mental Health6 min read
Published in Invisible Illness·Feb 17, 2020The Ingredients of SuicideSuicide never just happens. No individual emotion causes it. No single event is responsible for it. People are driven to suicide when they reach a state of extreme hopelessness. This despair is so awful that people believe only suicide can relieve it. But the recipe for suicidal despair requires a…Suicide5 min read
Feb 1, 2020What Would It Take For You To Stay Sober?Sober-curiosity is a “thing” now. With folk becoming more open about struggling with alcohol and liver disease levels rising, more people are trialing abstinence. Searching Twitter on the final day of Dry January, I found that people expressed their experience of sobriety in one of three ways: 1. Why the…Sobriety5 min read
Published in Invisible Illness·Aug 15, 2019The Case for Not CaringI’m not a heartless bully and I don’t recommend becoming one. But caring too much is a form of cruelty, albeit one disguised as a virtue. It’s good to care, to an extent. But when you care too much, you end up being unkind to yourself. …Self Improvement5 min read
Published in Invisible Illness·Aug 10, 2019Befriend Your Brain To Heal Your Mental HealthHorrid brain, always trying to put a downer your day, throwing up troubling feelings, flashbacks, and fears. From depression to anxiety to PTSD symptoms, is there nothing the brain won’t do to make you feel bad? Don’t get mad at your brain for the pain it causes. It isn’t deliberately…Mental Health6 min read
Jul 20, 2019How to Erase 100% of Your WorriesMark Twain devised a clever way of looking at worries and was able to banish 92 percent of his anxieties. We’re going a step further than the literary behemoth, aiming for 100 percent deletion of your worries. …Anxiety8 min read
Published in Invisible Illness·Mar 29, 2019The Golden Key to RecoveryWhat if I told you that I have recovered from Borderline Personality Disorder, depression, bulimia, self-harm, Social Anxiety Disorder, and alcoholism - and that there was one tiny thing that was the key to recovering from them all? You might think I had become a magician, “discovered” religion, or was…Mental Health6 min read
Published in Invisible Illness·Feb 15, 2019Why You Should Never Believe You’re “Broken” Or “Fixed”When I was in my early teens, I started traveling along a Highway to Hell that would probably make AC/DC blush. …Mental Health6 min read
Jan 17, 20195 Crazy Choices People Make Every DayPeople make some really crazy choices. I know I have. And I’m not talking about buying those eye-watering two-tone pants that I thought were pretty funky when I was 14. Or the time I decided to ‘bleach’ streaks in my hair using actual toilet bleach. I’m talking about how people…Life Lessons5 min read