Well, it’s been a while. Longer than I intended, in fact, since I last posted. I usually try to post at least once a week, but this has been a strange week! I wrote earlier about coming off risperidone and last week was the one where I finally came off the last of it. And […]
Mental Illness and my Faith
May 11, 2013 by 6 Comments
Apologies for the essay-like title, but I am writing this post in response to Adrian Warnock’s posts on Patheos (“A conversation about faith and mental illness” and “How has faith shaped our view of mental illness?”) He asks a question, in the light of the publishing of Amy Simpson’s book Troubled Minds and the suicide of […]
8 Good Things To Say to a Depressed Person
January 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I have seen lots of the sort of lists I’ve made, saying what some of the worst things we can say when someone we know is depressed, but I haven’t seen quite so many about what we can say. I wrote a piece called 8 Ways To Help When Someone is Mentally Ill, which I’d […]
Why, Lord? The Book of Job
November 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I have been reading the book of Job, in the Old Testament, today. I must confess that I have found this a difficult book in the past, with its many speeches, and I found it difficult to know whether Job’s comforters were right about him. Now that I have finally got round to reading it […]
What Do Chaplains Do? The report
November 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment
This is a review of “What Do Chaplains Do? The Role of the Chaplain in Meeting the Spiritual Needs of Patients” by Dr Harriet Mowat and Professor John Swinton, report number CSHD/MR001 Edition 2 from Aberdeen University, February 2007 and available online on this site (pdf). I was given a copy of this report when at […]
8 Steps to a Mental Health Friendly Church
October 27, 2012 by 4 Comments
These are things I would like to see in churches, things that would help me and, I think, others who are experiencing mental health difficulties. I will also point you to the excellent Mind and Soul listing of mental health friendly churches which has their draft ideas for what churches can do, and also the list […]
Count Your Blessings
October 15, 2012 by 4 Comments
There is a hymn I’ve often heard, on the familiar theme of being thankful for what you have: Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly, And you will keep singing as the days go by. […]
Hospital Chaplains
September 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I noticed search terms about hospital chaplains cropping up in my stats box, so I thought I would write a post about them. I have written elsewhere about my experiences with chaplains, but I thought it would bear repeating! Firstly, What Does A Chaplain Do? A chaplain in any hospital (psychiatric or otherwise) is there […]
Is Anyone Sick?
September 25, 2012 by 2 Comments
I have been reading from the letter of James, specifically James 5:14-16 and thinking about its ramifications for me, as a person with an illness. James writes: Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. […]
G2SI: Recovering
September 15, 2012 by 1 Comment
Let me say this: I feel like a hypocrite writing this. I slipped up, recently, and broke my record of being self injury free. I cannot sit here and write to you that there is an easy way to recover from self harm, that there is a way to banish it forever. I can, though, […]
Believer's Brain 