“It ain’t what they call you, it’s what you answer to.” W. C. Fields Way back in 2009, after two psychiatric hospitalisations, I had run away to a town over an hour away and upon their local Police taking me to their Station for a Mental Health Act assessment, the Psychiatrist went through all these questions. I remember feeling like I was agreeing to and saying yes to everything and afterwards, he told me that for a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), you needed at least five out of nine symptoms and that I exhibited all nine. Afterwards, I was allowed home and when I n ..read more

“The individual who says it is not possible should move out of the way of those doing it.” Tricia Cunningham Newcastle Hospitals (@newcastlehosps) • Instagram photos and videos Newcastle Hospitals (@NewcastleHosps) / X (twitter.com) Newcastle Hospitals (@NewcastleHosps) | Facebook Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk) Having been a blogger for over eleven years now, there have honestly been so many instances where I’ve found myself genuinely shocked and pleasantly surprised. These have varied from reaching reader milestones to being gifted items or complimentar ..read more

https://mammysbiscuits.com Twitter: @MammysBiscuits Instagram: @Mammys_Biscuits Facebook: MammysBiscuits “When you feel someone else’s pain and joy as powerfully as if it were your own; then you know you really love them.” Ann Brashares *This post features a Mammy’s Biscuits product: the ‘Birthday Girl’ bandana – you can browse & purchase their other designs here*  I honestly don’t care how stereotypical this sounds; but I literally and genuinely cannot believe that I’m writing this blog post to celebrate my little maine coon/ragdoll mix kitten – Ruby – turning one year old! Now, if ..read more

Lying close to you, feeling your heart beating, And I’m wondering what you’re dreaming, Wondering if it’s me you’re seeing, Then I kiss your eyes, And thank God we’re together, And I just wanna stay with you in this moment forever. Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing – Aerosmith In the almost automatic decision – which didn’t feel like a decision because it felt so predictable and natural(!) – to write a blog post celebrating my kitten’s first Birthday on March 26th, I toyed between writing it as a little letter and writing a full-on, detailed piece about pets and mental health. In the end, I decided to ..read more

“Unconditional love is the greatest gift we can ever give.” Amy Leigh Mercree The Mother’s Day Gift Shop (etsy.com) If you’ve read, I’m NOT Disordered for a while now, you’ll likely know that I actually really enjoy creating more light and fun content – it’s very obviously a really nice break from the usual, deep and overwhelmingly honest posts about my mental health. So, when I realised it’s Mother’s Day this Sunday (the 10th March 2024) I thought it the perfect opportunity to be able to put together this little Gift Guide in collaboration with Etsy UK – who have the most amazing variety of ..read more

To mark Self Injury Awareness Day 2024, I’ve teamed up with Pinterest to utilise their incredibly massive host of images in tackling the topic of developing and maintaining a good, positive level of self-esteem after having utilised self-harm as a coping mechanism… This piece of advice might seem a bit surprising to be coming from me after my post a few days ago on their huge failings and my subsequent, resulting complaints against the Crisis Team (if you missed it, you can read it here). In keeping with typical I’m NOT Disordered’s fashion though, I’m going to keep this bit honest, open ..read more

www.immersiontheatre.co.uk @Immersion_Thtr @immersiontheatreuk “Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.” Madeleine L’Engle On attending a show at Whitley Bay Playhouse, I just happened to spot the poster for Alice in Wonderland: The Musical and I think that I literally jumped for joy with pure, childish excitement! I’ve loved Alice in Wonderland for well over ten years now with my obsession starting when I read the book whilst a sectioned (detained under Section 2 of the 1983 Mental Health Act) inpatient of a psychiatric hospital. I almost immediately discovered ..read more

On this day (February 18th) one year ago, it was the beginning of my most recent detention under section 2 of the 1983 Mental Health Act, and so I obviously wanted to create some content to mark the date. I had a huge brainstorm of what angle to take with the blog post, and I was stuck between talking through the complaint I’d put in regarding many different instances through the admission and the polar opposite of looking at all the achievements I’ve made in this past year. Eventually, I decided to do both! But, they’ll be in separate posts because I wanted to post the achievements piece on t ..read more

This post is in collaboration with the Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NUTH) who I’m helping and supporting in their creation of a Trust-wide Mental Health Strategy (which I’ve previously blogged about here, here, here, here, and here). Together, we’re marking Time To Talk Day 2024 which is a date where everyone is encouraged to talk more about mental health in the hope that it will tackle the discrimination and stigma held against the topic and that, in doing so, it will also improve the help and support that is offered or available for those who might be struggling with ..read more

*This post is a bit of a follow-in from my previous post where I picked apart some of my Birthday blog posts, you can read it here* Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on how you look at it – there’s a huge mental health awareness date (Time To Talk Day) taking place on my actual Birthday of February 1st, and since I have a really special piece of content already lined up to mark that date; I thought I’d post my Birthday blog posts beforehand. Now, a genuine ‘unfortunately,’ is that due to a new commitment (which I can’t quite talk about just yet) I’m unable to complete the thought behi ..read more