It was a great joy to be asked to lead a CVM seminar at the Gathering, addressing Mental Health. We covered a lot of ground, and delved into some very powerful and honest questions. I spoke about the need to work with negative reality. And I shared the following story: Shortly after moving to Alaska, […]
Some years ago a pharmacist explained that one of the common mistakes made by trainee pharmacists was to cover the braille on the glass with the prescription label! Hence blind people who relied on the braille could not read the prescription – which may have been wrong! We are all guilty at times of failing to see […]
Back in March the Royal family was stunned by words which caused them much anxiety. Relationships have at best been strained and the Queen has used some words to bring about healing and hopefully reconciliation – “…Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members”. The Christian family from time to time has also […]
Recently I came across a wonderful story about two whales that had become trapped whilst swimming near to the Alaskan shore – they were surrounded by ice and freezing weather and unable to escape to their normal winter habitat. Soon help was at hand as local eskimos saw their plight and started to break the […]
I’m a quarter Scottish. You never know, in these days of Brexit uncertainty, and political absurdity, that might come in useful. I remember going to visit my grandparents in Aberdeen as a child, and seeing in their hallway the Scott clan crest with the clan motto ‘Amo’ (Latin for ‘I love’). At the time, even […]
It is really easy to wallow, and I don’t just mean in a nice, deep, hot bath with a Lush bath bomb (other brands are available, but Lush are definitely best), a decent pint and a book. I mean in anything. I wonder what immediately sprang to mind when you read the word ‘wallow’? For […]
Do we ever stop and think? Put ourselves in the shoes of another? That’s what we’re told we should be doing, after all shouldn’t we be aware of just what it means to be aware of mental illness? My path is a familiar one – I met a bloke who was broken, down, lost, desperate […]
Maybe you saw this in the news or even went and had a look for yourself, but earlier this year ITV HQ supported a charity called CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) by having an art installation on their buildings roof. The installation was the work of sculptor Mark Jenkins and featured 84 full size male […]
It was fairly early on in my Royal Naval career, my first complement job as a Petty Officer, Weapons Engineer. I was on a type 42 Destroyer, and I was the maintainer for the main computer system that drove the Weapons system and the Operations Room. It was 1983 and we were deployed down to […]
This week, ‘Beat’ launched an online support group for fathers of people with eating disorders. The struggle of seeing someone you love in turmoil and being unable to fix it for them – it’s an all-consuming battle for everyone involved. And as is often the case in these situations, support for fathers is hard to […]
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