The emerging blogger series is aimed at community building through giving mental health bloggers who are early in their blogging evolution the opportunity to have their work seen by a wider audience. It's also a way to introduce you as a reader to some newer members of our community. This post is by Lisa of … Continue reading Emerging Blogger Series: Lisa
One of the things I talk about in my new book Managing the Depression Puzzle is the idea of differentiating between illness treatment strategies and wellness promotion strategies. I think it's a distinction that applies to mental illness in general. So what's the difference? Illness treatment I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here, but … Continue reading Mental Illness Treatment vs. Wellness Promotion
52 Small Changes for the Mind by Brett Blumenthal lays out a year-long series of weekly small changes that you can make to improve your overall mental wellbeing. It's not specifically geared towards people with mental illness, but there are plenty of common sense, realistic ideas that could be useful for anyone. The book is … Continue reading Book Review: 52 Small Changes for the Mind
While it would be great if recovery from mental illness meant that the illness would disappear and never return, for many of us living with mental illness the reality is that it's just not going to go away. That means adapting the concept of recovery to fit with our own individual realities (or chucking aside … Continue reading Finding Recovery in Spite of Mental Illness
It doesn't happen very often, but every once in a while I'll have a bit of time where my mood is fairly neutral. When I consciously notice that, it sets off a whole crazy train of thoughts. One thought is that I'm not sure I can believe that it's actually real. I'm suspicious that it's … Continue reading Does Feeling Better Mean That I’m Faking it?
My Wellness Toolbox by Alison Swift is a collection of the strategies that she gradually accumulated through her recovery journey after hitting her own rock bottom. Rather than preaching what does work, she shares what has worked for her so others struggling with their mental health can get some ideas to try out for themselves. … Continue reading Book review: My Wellness Toolbox
Self-care is about taking time to do things to take care of ourselves. Sometimes self-care is a more active practice, but it's also good to fit in some pure relaxation, and just be. Here are some of the things I like to do to relax: Massage: my massage therapist uses a weighted blanket sometimes, which … Continue reading Finding little bits of peace
The world is pretty darn expensive these days, especially when income is limited related to our mental illnesses. But there are some pretty cool things that can be done for free, and here's a few that I've come up with: You may wonder why I've chosen a shaggy yak picture to go along with this … Continue reading The best things in life are free
Recovery means different things for different people. Here's what my recovery from depression would look like: confidence the ability to feel joy/pleasure resilience hope a sense of purpose and meaning feeling strong having a sense of control over my life being able to smile and laugh, and mean it looking forward to things being able … Continue reading What would recovery look like?
In Thriving Not Surviving: Bravely Pursue a Life That Will Blow Your Mind, Dianna (Dee) Kelly shows readers how to break free of what is holding us back and change the way we think in order to live the life we truly want to live. Anyone who's familiar with cognitive behavioural therapy will likely notice … Continue reading Book review: Thriving Not Surviving
Having worked as a mental health nurse for many years, it would be easy to assume that I'm usually the one doing the teaching and my clients are usually doing most of the learning. That assumption would be completely wrong. Yes, I've learned a lot in school and through continuing education, plus I've learned a … Continue reading What I’ve Learned from My “Psych Patients”
