It’s been a few months since I last wrote about the tangle of eating, exercise and emotions I have found myself in this year. I’m tired. More than anything I’m tired of thinking about food, eating, exercise and what I ‘should’ be doing. It’s just so tedious. Meditation, interesting work, DIY, time spent with friends and…
Author: Clare Foster
Setting up a new community – defining roles in moderation and peer support.
Consultancy for The Katie Piper Foundation In September I was contacted by Kerry from The Katy Piper Foundation. The Foundation supports people living with burns and scars. Kerry was looking for more information on managing online forums. She was particularly interested in moderation strategies and procedures for managing safeguarding and escalation. We had an initial chat on…
Engagement, co-design and community moderation on the Elefriends community at Mind
I’ve just finished 9 months working on the mental health peer support community Elefriends. The role was a maternity cover post and focused on community engagement as well as moderation training and support. So what did I get up to? Six co-design workshops with community members I organised and co-facilitated six co-design workshops with community…
Exercise addiction – managing the tangle of anxiety, eating and exercise.
Last Sunday I spent all day exercising It started when I pressed snooze at 6am and cancelled my spinning class. I’d been in the gym at 6.30 all the previous week and had just returned from a busy couple of days running and walking in Cornwall. I was exhausted. But I didn’t get back to sleep. Anxiety…
New youth resources for the Miscarriage Association
“People said it was lucky really. I don’t know how to deal with that” This quote was one of many we gathered from young women we spoke to during the youth project consultation process I ran for the Miscarriage Association. It highlighted the need for additional support resources that reflected the experiences of younger people….
Running for Sane – Christie’s story
Exercise for mental health I’ve been thinking a lot about sport, and running for mental health recently. This is partly due to work – I’m involved in the development of Mind’s Get Set To Go programme through the Elefriends community. I’ve also written a number of posts for New Level on the benefits of exercise for…
The mindfulness of dogs – a #mentalhealthselfie for Mind
Mind asked me to created a #mentalhealthselfie, a video blog about my mental health, for Mental Health Awareness Week 2015. The theme was mindfulness. “He reminds me to be curious” – how Watson helps me practice mindfulness As I blogged for Mind about my Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy course in 2012, I decided to do something…
Take 5 to blog for Time to Change
Time to Talk for Time to Change Today is Time to Talk day. Once again the Time to Change campaign is encouraging people to take some time to break the silence that so often surrounds mental health problems and have a conversation with friends, family or colleagues. Or, in this case, the internet. #Take5toBlog So…
How Headspace helps (or why Giles Coren is wrong)
Techno smegma? Giles Coren just called mindfulness ‘cynical, capitalist, techno smegma’ in Time Out. Now while I know it’s not only Katie Hopkins who is paid to spout controversial and potentially damaging opinions and these things are usually best ignored, I still wanted to write something in reply. Since my Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy course in…
Overcoming barriers to accessing therapy – a post for the RSCPP
RSCPP connects people with local registered therapists. It also contains articles and resources about issues you might face and the types of therapy available. Of course, these are private therapists. And therapy isn’t cheap (although if you get the right help, it can be immensely valuable). Much of the work I have done in the past…
Developing youth resources with the Miscarriage Association and Brook
Stage 1 – Online and face to face workshops with young people “I’ve honestly literally never spoken about my experience with anyone since I left sixth form, this is the first (and possibly last) time – but I’m happy that I’m using it to hopefully help others” I was recently approached by the Miscarriage Association to…
‘Crazy’ by Amy Reed – a review of a YA book about bipolar disorder.
A review of Crazy by Amy Reed – published by Simon and Schuster It’s hard to truly imagine what depression or bipolar disorder is actually like. The language of mental health is woefully inadequate. The word ‘depression’ has become part of the spectrum of everyday language used to describe feeling sad. We’ve all said or…
How do you run a good training session in an online chat room? 17 tips and ideas.
Last night I ran an online training session for YouthNet’s chat moderator volunteers (I’ve written a post about what is is like to moderate real time support chat for young people here). We all joined a chat room in YouthNet’s online volunteer community for an evening session. The focus of this chat was talking therapies…
Guardian Voluntary Sector Network Xmas Volunteering
Representing online volunteering in the Guardian Just before Christmas I wrote a piece for the Guardian on why I volunteer at Christmas. It was a personal explanation of my motivation to volunteer, why I’ve continued to do so since leaving YouthNet and why it’s particularly important at Christmas. It was one of a series on Christmas…