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The Power of Fake Fires: How Journey Dancing Helped A Grieving Mother Process Her Anger A Grieving Mother’s Retreat All my life I dreamt...

Does lived experience really inform our duty of care in mental health? It is very hard to describe and express mental ill-health to...

Expressing the Mind: reflecting on my experience of writing a blog Some time ago, during an email exchange, I received a suggestion from...

Dealing with Mental Illness on the Road (How the Beats Inspired Me to Live a Life of Purpose and Fulfillment) For me, Jack Kerouac was a...

Any parent can experience mental health difficulties in the perinatal period (from conception to one year following birth), regardless of gender or biological connection to the child. This is common in men with around 1 in 10 fathers experiencing depression and anxiety in the perinatal period. Awareness is growing in relation to the effects that traumatic birth experiences have on fathers, too. But which fathers does this evidence refer to? I am a Reader at the University of

I’m Michael and I’m married to Wes. We met by complete chance in June 2012 at Birmingham Pride no less, both single and not looking for a relationship, and pretty much from our first meeting I knew I’d met someone that was going to take my life in a direction that I’d been waiting for. Four months later we were engaged and in August 2014 we married in front of all our friends and family. We’re Dads to our two children; Talulah is 5, and Duke is 2. Wes also has a 17-year-old d

The Importance of Physical Activity on Your Mental Health: An interview with Michael Watson, MBE In my life, I have battled a gambling addiction and a brain tumour — and alongside these I experienced depression. Exercising through those tough times has helped me focus and keeps me moving forward. The British ex-boxer Michael Watson, who uses exercise as a tool to manage his mental health, was a hero of mine as a youngster. Seeing how he has dealt with adversity encouraged me

Learning to live with trauma Photo taken by Jamie Cowen, in his Mother-in-Law’s garden where he and his wife stayed for a while after the loss of their son Hi. I’m Jamie. At the time of writing this, I’m 43 years old, living in north London with Kath, my wife, and our two kids Jacob, nearly 12, and Ella, 8. I work in book publishing, enjoy reading, playing music, a good game of footie and a natter down the pub. So far, so unremarkable. Another unremarkable thing, given that i

Becoming a Father during lock-down and Postnatal Depression Photo by Juan Pablo on Pexels Ever since around 17-years of age I’ve suffered from some form of mental health issue at various stages of becoming a man, mainly anxiety, which I am certain was linked to quite a troubled upbringing in the North East of England. An aggressive, adulterating father, who worked away most of the time, resulted in my parents divorcing when I was 7. My brother and I were then brought up singl

I want to start this with a huge thank you. To our friends and family who have been there with us, to the amazing NHS staff who helped bring our two children into the world, to the two children I am proud to call my daughters and to my partner, who gave me the ultimate reward in life, twice. Growing up I decided that I was going to be a dad at some point. And, when that happens, I will give my children my everything. At age 24, my partner (aged 25) brought Sakura into the wor

An interview with Elliott Rae, founder of "Music.Football.Fatherhood." “It was 2015 and mental health wasn’t really a thing at that time”. These are the first words that Elliott says to me, immediately showing why his contribution to the mental health conversation in the last few years has been so crucial. It is not that mental health wasn’t a thing in 2015. It wasn’t a thing that men talked about. Elliott Rae is the founder of Music.Football.Fatherhood (MFF), a successful bl

Reflections from the President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists: Party Conference season I was pleased to be invited to write this...

When Anxiety Gets Physical I’m Alice. I’m a freelance writer and editor with anxiety and depression, fibromyalgia and functional...

Addiction: The depths and the recovery with professional boxer Charlie Duffield In my twenties, I suffered from a gambling addiction that...

So many of our greatest successes start from a dark place Watching a TV program about 1995, I realized that year held some of the darkest...

Let me preempt this piece by saying that I hate the coronavirus pandemic. As a professional magician and freelance writer, the...

My name is Aida and I’m a second-year student at King’s College London, currently studying Global Health and Social Medicine BSc. I’d...

I’ve cried on ashen floors of working men’s clubs. 96, 98, 2000, 2002, 2004. Oh my god, will it end? Oh my god! Oh my god!...

There have long been calls to reform or change the way we look and talk about education in the UK, but never has it been talked about so...

My name is Milad and I was born in Kabul in 1996. The same year that the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in a bitterly fought civil...

The days of lockdowns ending were always going to be tricky. Is it too soon? Will there be another one (spoiler: probably)? Can we stop...

Over recent weeks there has understandably been a huge amount of media coverage of the situation in Afghanistan. This has focused on the...

...and that Challenges Me a lot Most Days The good news is challenges are meant to be overcome Writing is my lifeline. Ever since I was a...

Nearly 42 years of violent conflict is driving a growing mental health crisis in Afghanistan. I am an Afghan doctor currently working as...