I have been on both sides of the fence of mental health services. I have been a ‘patient’ and I have worked as an Integrative therapist for the NHS and non-profit organisations. When emotional distress, trauma and pain are understood through the lens of pathology, I feel saddened and fearful.
So, at 26 years old, I knew my heart was with pursuing a career in counselling, alongside that was a passion to work with children and young people. I myself had benefitted as a young person from strong role models and counselling. I had grand aspirations to give something back (and in my own way change the world)!
On 13th February A Disorder for Everyone was held in Cornwall and attended by over 120 people. Two of those who came were two allies from Norway. Siv and Inger-Mari share their thoughts about the day here.
Over the summer I was lying in bed above a cycle hire shop in Krakow, Poland when I heard a ping on my phone. I was feeling happy that morning because I was on holiday with my family and, in spite of the weakness of the pound, our budget was stretching further than I’d anticipated. […]
I have grappled with the angle to take with writing a review of Drop the Disorder. Should it be from my perspective as Family Psychotherapist working in our NHS Crisis teams and struggling to have my no labeling stance heard or respected by my colleagues clinging to their DSM bibles of pharmaceutical damage? Or perhaps […]
In around 1965, when my mother, Anne, was twelve, she was told she was schizophrenic. A smart, quick-witted child with a talent for comedic poetry and a love of Oscar Wilde, she was not suited to the strict, nun-led Catholic schooling thrust upon her.
For 17 years I worked in mainstream mental health services. I qualified as a social worker in 2001, got my first job in mental health in 2002. I wanted to make a difference! Having grown up with a fair amount of traumatic experiences myself, I felt I had something to give. And while that is […]
Having read and digested the Power Threat Meaning Framework Overview, I have some thoughts: The most exciting parts of the PTM Framework are at the start and at the end. This is where we can get immersed in the theoretical, the ideological, the boundless potential of opening our minds and hearts and not being straitjacketed […]
Coherent language about mental health On Thursday 6th September I heard, for the first time, a coherent language being spoken about mental health. I had almost given up hope of such a language existing. It was a powerful day for me personally. It was also validating in terms of the work which I, as a […]
Sold the ‘explanation’ of ‘illness’! Lucy Johnstone was interviewed by Bruce Guthrie from ‘Mental Health Matters’ at the ‘A disorder for everyone!’ event in Brighton (16.2.18). In this interview Lucy explains the main message of the ‘A disorder for everyone!’ events – that psychiatric diagnoses are not evidence based as we have been led to […]