I’m a peer worker. I love peer work. Since I found peer work it’s been a never ending deep dive into the practice of peer work, the history of peer work and the contexts in which peer work can be useful. I regularly find myself driving along listening to a podcast yelling “PEER WORK!” at…
Category: Mental Health
Mental health used to be a mainstay of blogs I used to write. That’s gone now as I tend to see myself as more than what is written in clinical notes, especially now I work in the ‘industry’.
Crossroads
When I log into this blog to write a new post, I look to the right to pick a category that best fits what I’m about to blog about. With that being said I never know what I’ll write about when I open up a blog post. And secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I’ve noticed…
Decision Fatigue
Back working from home due to a cold, back in the caravan of misery, back into blogging when I should be working. Back trying to self motivate, back trying to convince myself that I can do this work. Just back. And speaking of Back – when working from home I usually listen to music or…
A Love Letter To Recovery…
From time to time people tell me that I’ve played some sort of part in their recovery. It’s genuinely a humbling experience and I share that piece of information without meaning to come across in any way arrogant or conceited. But I say it to illustrate a point that when you’ve been in any sort…
Blank Pages
I love starting with a blank page when I write a blog post. A blank page is limitless. Literally anything can happen. Despite the fact that I’ve already downloaded a header image, I could go rogue and write anything here. I once advocated for recovery plans at work to be blank pages – clinicians didn’t…
Manic Ideas
I once tried to get pigeonholed by a psychiatrist as someone with a diagnosis of bipolar. It didn’t fit comfortably and I could tell what he was trying to do. I flat out refused to accept that diagnosis. That was 10 years ago. I still believe I’m right and he was wrong. Mainly because diagnosis…
The Happy Broadcast
Someone reminded me today to look for the happy in life and having recently reviewed all of my posts I realise I can seem quite negative. Maybe I’m more likely to blog when feeling dispirited but most of the time I’m upbeat and reasonably chipper. And that brings me onto The Happy Broadcast. Give them…
Sometimes…
Two entries in one day. I must be working from home again. I love my job. I love being a peer worker. I love the values of peer work. I love everything it stands for and how different the relationships that are build through it can look compared to other types of mental health support….
Disclosure Anxiety
I gave the address of this blog to a co-worker today. On one hand, I’m pretty comfortable with that. There’s nothing inherently bad or deep in here that I wouldn’t be comfortable sharing with this particular person. But…! What if I forgot about the entry where I disclose about the time I beat a baby…
Grant Imahara
Grant Imahara died today. I won’t pretend to know everything he’d done or been a part of as an engineer, presenter, builder etc. But I do know that him and the rest of the Mythbusters crew have been a steady and comforting hand during a long period of recovery in my life. As someone with…