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The SANE Blog

Where to next? What are our options when we're concerned about our wellbeing

Where to next? What are our options when we're concerned about our wellbeing

Mental Health Week brings our own wellbeing into focus. So it’s a good time to think about what you can do if you have concerns about your own mental health, or that of a family member or a friend.

It takes courage to take the first step. You may have noticed changes in your own mood, or observed worrying behaviours in someone else. Either way it could be time to acknowledge that there is problem and reach out for help.

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Guest Blog: 'With Peer Health Coaching I feel taller'

Guest Blog: 'With Peer Health Coaching I feel taller'

People with severe mental illness are likely to die up to 25 years earlier than the general population from conditions such as respiratory or cardiovascular diseases caused by obesity, smoking, and a lack of exercise.

SANE spoke to Nick and Kathy regarding their experience of Peer Health Coaching and how it helps people living with a mental illness to improve their mind and body.

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This is Jock, not schizophrenia

This is Jock, not schizophrenia
My brother lives with schizophrenia. Now before you judge and run away, allow me to introduce him.

This is my big brother John, or 'Jock', he does not have a split personality, just one, and it's loving and kind.
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Madness, poetry and the search for meaning

Madness, poetry and the search for meaning

I was a young twenty-three year old graduate when I was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1976. I was told by clinicians that with every psychotic episode I had, I would go further into unreachable madness from which I would never recover.

The diagnosis was a death-sentence. Any thoughts of a future and a career were crushed by this awful mental illness and an equally awful assumption that my life would amount to nothing.

There was no presumption of capacity, no expectation that I would blossom like my friends around me who were getting on with their lives and forging successful careers. I felt irrelavant, and worse, invisible in the world. I describe it as walking in the shadows of others and casting none of my own. I was left with no identity, no sense of self and no hope. They were dark days.

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Guest Blog: What about the ME in Mental Health?

Guest Blog: What about the ME in Mental Health?

Silence is the absence of noise, as peace is just the absence of war. Silence defined me for so long. It was a strategy and a symptom all rolled into one.

I do not want to be silent any more. I want to say all those things I could not in my youth.

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The happiness habit - eight tips to boost your happiness

The happiness habit - eight tips to boost your happiness

How many times have you heard someone say that a lottery win would make them happy?

How many times have you thought this yourself?

Lottery winners have actually been the subject of research studies. What we know from this research is their happiness is only boosted for about six months. After that first rush of euphoric spending they return to their previous levels of happiness. So if they were unhappy before winning, they’re likely to be wealthier, but not happier, people.

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Building your team – Looking after yourself as a carer

Building your team – Looking after yourself as a carer

We get many calls to the SANE Helpline from people who are looking after a loved one with a mental illness.

It is estimated that carers of someone with a mental illness spend an average of 104 hours per week in the caring role. This can make being a carer a very demanding responsibility, and getting some outside support can make a big difference.

It is important for you to take care of yourself, as it is quite common for carers to put their own needs aside.

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Four tips to help mental health services when responding to suicide bereavement

Four tips to help mental health services when responding to suicide bereavement

It is a sobering fact that suicide is one of the most common causes of premature death among people with mental illness.

Loss caused by the suicide of a loved one with mental illness has a profound effect on families and friends. The bereaved often have to deal with a range of complex emotions including confusion, despair and anger both at themselves and at mental health services.

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The 80:20 rule

The 80:20 rule

When people think of recovery from an episode of illness – whether physical or mental – they often think solely in terms of hospitals, doctors and nurses.

Clinical care is essential of course, but it’s not the whole story, as David, explains . . .

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Five important lessons from people who have attempted suicide

Five important lessons from people who have attempted suicide

Last year I had the privilege of interviewing 31 people who had attempted suicide.

We talked about a range of issues, including the triggers that led them to feeling suicidal, support received (both helpful and unhelpful), the challenge of talking with others about their experience, and the progress they had made developing coping skills.

These interviews were the basis of Lessons for Life, a research report that highlights what helps and hinders people who attempt suicide. Throughout the process participants shared their invaluable insights into areas of critical importance, these included . . .

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