I was chuffed to see the blog I did for Mind on managing mental health in a relationship was in Mind’s top 10 most read blogs of 2016.
Author: Clare Foster
Signs of change and coping with cheese – how my eating disorder recovery looks now
Mental health problems have a way of taking over. I’m lucky enough never to have been hospitalised or signed off work. Life has always stumbled on. But moods and behaviours creep in and twist their tendrils around daily life. They trick you into thinking they’re normal, into nourishing them. It’s not until they start to…
Writing to the Information Standard for Mind and the British Lung Foundation
If the events of 2016 have told us anything, it’s that people can write any old rubbish and post it online as fact. And people will believe them. Especially if those people are vulnerable or anxious. And no one is more vulnerable or anxious than when it comes to researching health concerns. The internet is…
Recovery is long, messy, uncomfortable and emotional – but i’ll keep trying (and talking)
Glad to have an eating disorder? Apparently Liz Jones is glad she has an eating disorder. In her latest piece for the Mail, she tells us that recovery is so hard that it’s easier not to try. She’s lived with an eating disorder for so long that she’d rather take refuge in behaviours that feel…
Strong, powerful, upsetting, thought provoking and with important teaching points – developing Miscarriage Association learning resources for health professionals
Skimming through the British Medical Journal, I came across a blog called Breaking bad news in maternity care. It’s a lovely piece about the new learning resources I worked on with the Miscarriage Association. I coordinated the development of these resources, working with the National Director of the Miscarriage Association, the Media Trust and lots of…
Avoiding an unwanted pregnancy far outweighs any side effects of contraception? How dare you say it’s that simple!
Women on hormonal contraception are more likely to be treated for depression Recent research has shown that women taking hormonal contraception are more likely to be treated for depression. And we already know that those with pre-existing depression may have their symptoms worsened by the pill. Tell us something we don’t know. I’ve avoided hormonal contraception completely…
A letter to Incognito about OCD
Hey Incognito, You probably haven’t thought it through – and I’m sure you don’t mean to cause offence – but I wanted to highlight some of the problems with your OCD Hand Sanitizer product and the accompanying text. OCD is an incredibly debilitating mental health problem. So much so that the World Health Organisation ranks…
The next step in recovery – letting go of clothes that don’t fit
Too small I’m selling some of my favourite clothes. Some of them are definitely too small. I bought them when I was at my lowest weight last year. Fitting into a smaller size was an unhealthy but irresistible boost to a fragile self esteem that had narrowed to focus only on my weight and ability…
Writing a blog about your mental health – why and how?
Blogging about my mental health A few weeks ago had an internet date. Of sorts. Not a romantic first date (thank goodness) but a face-to-face meeting with someone I met online. Someone like me in lots of ways. Someone who could be a friend. We knew a lot about each other’s vulnerabilities and fears before…
Please help me raise money for Mind
Update – I did it – thank you! I also blogged about it for Mind – Exercise, mental health and taking on Ride London.
What I’d tell my 2015 self about dieting, body positivity and accepting medication
Yesterday we celebrated our first wedding anniversary. Our wedding was a magical day but, in the two years since we got engaged, life has taken some unexpected turns. My mental and physical health has taken quite a bashing. I’m not fully recovered – and I’m working hard to challenge and change thought patterns and reactions that…
Community moderation training for OCDAction
Last week I ran a session on community moderation for OCDAction. Unlike my session for Leeds Mind (which was for community managers and focused on developing a moderation strategy) this session was for moderators themselves. OCDAction have an established community but they want to expand their moderator team and make sure their current moderation practices are as…
We need to talk about mental health and trying to conceive #takeoffthetape
Mind has been asking people to #TakeOffTheTape and share something that makes them anxious. Something they haven’t spoken about before. I thought I would use the opportunity to write about something that’s hardly spoken about at all. I’m finding it incredibly hard to balance trying to conceive with managing my mental health. We don’t talk about…
An introduction to community moderation
This week I travelled up to Leeds to run a workshop I called ‘An introduction to moderating online communities’. It was attended by three groups associated with Leeds Mind. All of them were thinking about online peer support. Some had a platform built and in testing. Others were still figuring out what, if anything, they…