83-Year-Old and Canadian Volunteer Bridge 3,500 Miles to Combat Loneliness
Thanks to the incredible work of the Adopt A Grandparent charity, an inspiring friendship has flourished across the Atlantic, bridging 3,500 miles between Nuneaton and Ontario. Ann Lucas, 83, a resident of Acorn Lodge Care Home, in Nuneaton, since 2023 and Angela Martin, 47, who lives in Canada, have forged a unique connection that transcends borders and generations. Despite having never meet in person, the pair talk weekly through video calls, proving that distance is no barrier to meaningful relationships. The Adopt a Grandparent...
read moreSuicide First Aid: From Loss to Hope #WSPD2024 by Jane McNeice
Wednesday 13th March 2024 will leave an indelible mark on our family’s life. Sadly, my daughter’s 22-year-old cousin, Alex Conley, ended her life from the pain that became a suicide. The ripple effect was momentous, with so many impacted emotionally. The lives of Alex’s parents and those closest to her will never be the same again. I often find that pain follows the laws of physics in as much as we recompense in equal measure to the pain experienced, whether that is positively or negatively. Alex family started to direct their pain...
read moreEmotional Avoidance, by John Ford
Emotional Avoidance “When we close the door to our feelings, we close the door to the vital currents that energise and activate our thoughts and actions.” — Gary Zukav One of the most pervasive challenges we face, whether in our personal lives, workplaces, or broader communities, is emotional avoidance. This behavior—where we actively avoid feeling and processing our emotions—has far-reaching consequences that can leave relationships strained, workplaces toxic, and our personal growth stunted. Emotional avoidance is the pattern of...
read morePrioritising Mental Health Throughout the Journey of Life, by Millie Fully
The NHS has recently appointed a director for mental health and neurodiversity, proving that wellbeing concerns are finally receiving the acknowledgement they deserve. It signifies a step in the right direction of mental health being a top priority during all phases of life. Mental health has no age Poor mental health can affect anyone, at any age. It changes how we manage, and our relationships with other people. Identifying the signs We must educate ourselves on spotting the signs of poor wellbeing. These might include: Changes in mood...
read moreAutistic People ‘Canaries in the coal mine’? by Jane McNeice
In the last few weeks, I have heard and read several references to Autistic people being the ‘canaries in the coal mine’, the analogy being that we are the first to identify danger and threat, succumb to it, and are a warning sign to others before they too experience it. As I so often do, I rolled this thinking around in my brain, reflected and ruminated on it, and questioned whether it had any substance. My instincts were telling me it wasn’t wrong, the very instincts that were being alluded to, but I continued to search for the evidence. We...
read moreIncrease Awareness About Mental Illness This Mental Health Awareness Week (13th-19th May)
Millions of UK adults and young people have experienced or are currently experiencing the debilitating effects of a mental health disorder. In virtually every instance, individuals struggling with these conditions can recover and enjoy a substantially better life. Here Lee Hawker-Lecesne MBPsS, Clinical Director at The Cabin, Asia’s premier rehabilitation center with over 50 years of clinical expertise, looks at how important awareness of the high incidence of mental health problems is and that people know the truth about how effective...
read moreAusterity: Why mental health training should remain a priority, especially in times of hardship. By Jane McNeice
I reall the recession of 2008-9 and my attempts to convince senior management teams that mental health training should be a top priority. This sat alongside efforts to influence General Practitioners and other health care practitioners to discuss return to work with their patients as part of mental health recovery and because work is extremely protective for our health. This was at a time when businesses were facing financial hardship, and their worries centred around preserving funds to pay the next wage bill. It was also a time when the...
read moreTime: As a matter of urgency… By Jane McNeice
“I can’t believe we are in May already!” I have heard myself say the same phrase each and every month since January. I’ve heard others iterate it too. Yet it is not the case that each week, month, or year has less time in it, so why the feeling that time is slipping away so quickly? I think many of us relate to the sense that time was slower when we were children, and as each year passes, it gets faster. I can vividly recall the year of 1981 when I was six years old, and we had the six weeks school summer holidays that went on for an...
read moreI thought everyone experienced the world as I did, until I realised, they didn’t! By Jane McNeice
One thing is true of us all. We only know our own experiences of the world and the intricacy of what is going on in our own minds. We may interpret and filter what others share with us about their minds and their inner world, perhaps through the ways they behave, or in what they choose to share with us through the written or spoken word, but that’s as close as we will get. Of course all of this is filtered and interpreted based on our own brains processing system and life experiences. This being the case, it leaves a lot of room for unknowns,...
read moreAutism: Does everyone want a label? By Jane McNeice ‘The Umbrella Picker’
It is not uncommon nowadays to hear comments like “Everyone wants a label these days”, or “There was none of this Autism in my day!”. This is stimulated by the increased number of people self-identifying and disclosing their being Autistic, and in many cases seeking assessment and formal diagnosis, which is currently being driven by two things: A considerable number of Autistic people receiving a diagnosis of Autism late in life. So why is this? Well, quite simply because they weren’t identified in childhood, adolescence, or adulthood. They...
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