Want to be happier every day? Well who doesn’t? Personally I am interested in exploring ways of helping me manage my wellbeing as I try to cut down on the anti depressants I have been on for the last 12 years (a process that seems to have stalled around the 20mg mark). I’ve also recently…
Author: Clare Foster
What’s in a letter? Creative letter writing for self guidance and managing mental health
A blast from the past Last week, through the magic of social media, I made contact with a penpal I’d last written to over a decade ago (she has since written a wonderful piece on catching up with old friends here). Exchanging letters is a wonderful way of making and cementing a bond. You share…
Happiness – an emotion, a mood, a goal or a way of life?
What would we describe as a ‘happy life’? “The idea that humans can capture a mere mood – ‘happiness’ – and somehow preserve it seems absurd. As an aim for life it is not only doomed but infantile.” Sebastian Faulks – A Possible Life The idea of ‘happiness’ seems to have been popping up everywhere…
Managing depression and anxiety in relationships; early days and long term.
Tips and suggestions for managing depression and anxiety within relationships. A version of this article was published in the Summer 2013 edition of ONEinFOUR magazine. Managing mental health when meeting someone new; the early days of uncertainty and strong emotions. Four years ago I was pretty happy. I felt I was finally managing to keep all life’s…
Understanding mental trickery – notes from depression island…
The three tricks that a depressed mind can play on you – and how to overcome them. An ongoing balancing act I would describe managing depression as an ongoing balancing act. A lot of that is knowing and understanding how my thought processes work and what influences my mood. Alas, the mind is a tricksey…
E Learning and Digital Cultures – initial insights from a metaMOOC!
Do you ever start something new and find yourself thinking ‘I should have been doing this for ages’? I had a very strong case of that this week as I began a new Coursera course called ‘E Learning and Digital Cultures‘ online. Last year I watched a fascinating TED talk by Daphne Koller, one of…
Compliments and wellbeing – #passonacompliment!
Yesterday and today, a twitter friend @TheAgentApsley and I were engaging in small scale hashtag creation #passonacompliment. It started with a TheSite.org member sharing an ‘emergency compliment’ website. While I love it, and it brought a smile to my face, it’s a little impersonal. Unless of course my hair does smell like a lawn –…
Christmas, comparisons, media and mental health – thoughts on having a more realistic Christmas this year.
Internal comparisons Do you have an internal picture in your mind of how your life ‘should’ be? When you are feeling low, do you ever find yourself judging your experience as ‘not right’ and comparing it to how you feel you ‘should’ be feeling or what ‘should’ be happening? By this I mean thinking thoughts…
Wilderness, jungle or ecosystem? Does the language often used to talk about ‘online’ encourage unhelpful assumptions and distinctions?
The power of language Language is a powerful tool. I’ve written before about the value of metaphor in mental health support and how it can reframe and change perception as well as helping people understand subjective experience. Language is also a tricky thing – the way we frame things in words can influence how we…
Finding a breathing space – eight weeks of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy
Over the past month I have been working on a series of posts for Mind about my experience of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). My own original post about Mindfulness – ‘Keeping the beast asleep’ is by far my most popular – and Mind are interested in how users of their services can develop resilience…
Having a Moodle – what I’ve learnt about online learning.
After a recent dinnertime debate was resolved using the internet, a friend of mine said wistfully “Sometimes I just speculate indefinitely for old times’ sake”. I expect that this is a sentiment that we all recognise – the way we approach what we don’t know and the way we develop our knowledge is changing. So…tell…
Who’s in agony? – problem pages today and through history
Teen magazine problem pages I recently had reason to remember a scene from my childhood – my friend Jess and I in a tent in a field, surrounded by old copies of teen magazines, reading the problem pages with a strange mix of awe and derision. There was the frisson of excitement caused by the…
The Elephant in the online community – mental health peer support for adults
Online peer support for mental health at Mind Yesterday I attended a session run by Mind on online peer support – helping users of the ‘Elephant (in the room)’ community on Facebook develop their skills in supporting each other. I was interested in attending as I had been chatting to Eve, one of the trainers…
Volunteering and mental wellbeing – perspectives as a volunteer and as a volunteer manager
Radio Lollipop Last Wednesday evening I was in an old tube train, in a courtyard in Great Ormond Street, presenting a radio show which played out in rooms all over the hospital. Children could call in and request songs, or sing along – we told jokes and ran a competition to see who could do…