I’ve been there. You might have, too

It’s the point where, as Hello You family member Jen puts it, ‘someone lets go of all the pretending’.

Jen’s lifelong friend reached that point on March 6th this year. It’s what has happened - or not happened - since, that Jen wants to share with you in this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast.

What do you think of Jen’s story? Does it strike a chord with you? Leave a comment:

Do you have a story like this?

Jen contacted me despite being unsure if what she had to say was interesting enough to make an episode of Hello You. She needn’t have worried. Im always interested in sharing stories of people’s experiences with mental health, and with mental health support and services, positive or otherwise.

Hence my suspicion that there are other stories out there like Jen’s. Are there other people going through similar things to Jen’s friend?

If you work in mental health, if you’re a social worker, if you work with patients presenting with MH issues in our local hospitals, I’d really like to know what you think of this episode. Is this unusual? How has Jen’s friend fallen through the cracks?

And if you have a story, a personal experience that you’d like to share with the Hello You family, whether it’s about mental health or anything else, feel free to get in touch. You can message me here:

… or for total security and confidentiality you can contact me on the messaging app Signal. My user name is jimallthetime.69

Coming up on Hello You next week

Next week, another episode of Hello You will touch on the difficulty of finding the right help when you’re going through hell.

In this case, the hell is fuelled by crystal meth. It cost James almost everything, nearly including his life. James tells his story of the catastrophic consequences of chemsex on Hello You the Shropshire podcast.

Benches and soundscapes

I’ll be recording more ‘bench’ episodes of Hello You very soon. Locations will be revealed on here and on my social media: on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and NextDoor. If you’re on any of these, let’s connect with one another?

Also, I’ll be recording more soundscapes: heading to interesting places in Shropshire and recording the sounds of those locations.

Many people find the soundscapes soothing and restful. They play them while working or to get to sleep, the use them for meditation or ASMR, or they just enjoy being transported to somewhere new.

One slight change: Soundscapes will be for paid subscribers only. I’m hoping that the people who value these special slices of audio will support me to make them.

My side of the bargain is this: Future soundscapes will be much longer, so you’ll definitely get value for money! I’ll aim to make each one at least 45 minutes in length, with a target of an hour or more.

So, to hear the sounds of Shropshire at their most intimate, take out a paid subscription!

Thank you for being there

It means a lot that you’re a member of the Hello You family. Why not invite your friends and family to join, and pull up a chair around the Hello You Virtual Kitchen Table? Share Hello You with them in just one click:

Take care of yourself

Take care of the people around you … and I hope that they’re taking care of you, too.

Hello You - the Shropshire podcast from Jim Hawkins is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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