In this episode, I talk about loneliness, and the misconceptions some people may have about what loneliness actually means, it's not always about being physically alone, one can suffer from loneliness when being around people. Also the various reasons and life situations of how loneliness can occur in a persons life, and the impact loneliness can have, the affects on ones physical health and mental health. I'll also be talking about my own suffering of prolonged loneliness and the difficulties I have in social situations for example which then exacerbates loneliness and isolation.

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In this episode, I talk about workplace bullying, and specific types of bullying, and what affects it could have on people, their health and wellbeing. What makes a bully target a person, is it because of their weaknesses or indeed their strengths that they feel threatened by, there are many reasons this may happen, but on the other hand, there may be no real reason, it may just be the simple fact that a person may be targeted due to speaking up for themselves or speaking out about an issue and so on, hence they may be targeted by people as retaliation. These types of cleverly intricate, subtle, and covert methods, are still classed as a type of bullying. A person may start to feel left out, avoided, ostracised, excluded from various things in the workplace, obstacles put in their way in order to prevent the person from developing in work roles and so on. These types of actions, are still classed as bullying. There are so many people around the world that go through such traumatic times, and once they feel they can speak about it, there is support out there and people that can guide them and support them. 

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In this episode, I talk about the ongoing stigma and discrimination encountered towards Personality Disorders, especially Borderline Personality Disorder, it's the most stigmatised of all mental illnesses. What ways can sufferers change these kind of wrong attitudes and wrong approaches that some mental health professionals have when dealing with people who suffer from BPD and what ways we can work together to bring about a change, and become more trauma informed. Things have to change, for every person worldwide that suffers from PD.

- Please support the Zero Suicide Alliance and access the free online training at: zerosuicidealliance.com

In this episode, I talk about a difficult and sensitive subject, childhood sexual abuse and the effects on mental health into adulthood. I think it's important for people who want to open up about such traumas are given the opportunities to do so, in an educational way within mental health services, to work together with mental health professionals to bring about more awareness and understanding about everyday kind of triggers. It's important for people that want to talk about their life experiences to be given more opportunities to turn it into an educational piece of work.

- Please support the Zero Suicide Alliance and access the free online training at: zerosuicidealliance.com

In this episode, I’d like to give a follow up on a previous episode I did called 'Mental Health and the Covid-19 Vaccine'. Now this follow up episode is to remind people the importance of getting their vaccines and booster, and especially now with the Omicron variant and the speed in which it's spreading. As I'm a service user at Mersey Care NHS, I just want to remind other service users not to let their guard down, just because Omicron may be a milder variant, it doesn't mean Delta has vanished now, so it's vital that healthcare professionals keep reminding everyone to get their vaccines and booster, and some people especially with mental health problems might feel hesitant to have their vaccines or booster too. So I just thought I’d talk about my experience of having the vaccines and the worries I had beforehand which also played on my mental health problems, hopefully by talking about it again, it may help to reassure others, that may have the same anxieties I had before getting the vaccine. Thankfully I've had both vaccines and booster, even though with a phobia about injections, I still didn't think twice, I just got my vaccines done and felt relieved about that.

- Please support the Zero Suicide Alliance and access the free online training at: zerosuicidealliance.com

In this episode, I talk about dreams, what are dreams, do specific dreams give us answers in our daily lives ? I always like to go over every detail of a dream I may have, especially strange dreams. I got into the habit of keeping a dream journal when I was about 12 or 13. But the past few years I've not really continued writing down my dreams, as I just remember most of them anyway. But I read some of those old dream journals recently and I laugh how strange the dreams I used to have. Some dreams seem so real that it affects my mood in my waking day. Why do we dream, what is our subconscious trying to tell us ? Do sad dreams affect your emotional state afterwards ?

In this episode, I talk about in detail the life I had with my late partner Roger. Talking about this in detail, has been a help to me, as a way of healing from grief. Roger passed away from MND / ALS (Motor Neurone Disease / Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). Hopefully this episode would also resonate with anyone else that has had to go through something similar, caring for the person they love through a terminal illness. I have difficulty seeing Roger on that last moment when the doctor was beside him, and Roger made the decision for the effects of the morphine to just finally let him pass away peacefully. So in this episode I go from the very beginning, how me and Roger met, and everything in between, right through to the end and how it felt when I lost him. Recording this episode was like a therapy session for me, I feel proud of myself for being able to talk in detail about the love of my life Roger, how we met, how great our relationship was, and how I felt at the end, and how do I feel now, 8 years on from his passing. The support I have from Mersey Care NHS through the difficulty I have coming to terms with my partner's loss has been invaluable to me, my CPN is a vital support, helping me to talk about Roger and how I feel now, and finding ways to manage that loss, no matter how many years later.

- Please support the Zero Suicide Alliance and access the free online training at: zerosuicidealliance.com

In this episode, I talk about my experience of having low self esteem and my lack of confidence, what are the causes and why the need to feel reassured often, is it an insecurity or lack of confidence and what is the root cause. 

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In this episode, I talk about love and loss and my experience of losing my partner Roger, the difficulty in accepting such loss and how it affects my mental health. We are all different and deal with loss in different ways and how it affects people in different ways. Acceptance is the most difficult part for me. It's so important to point out that grief has no time limit.

- I'm a service user and volunteer at Mersey Care NHS. For information and resources, please visit: merseycare.nhs.uk For anybody outside the region and unsure what support is available, please contact your local health care service.

- Please support the Zero Suicide Alliance and access the free online training at: zerosuicidealliance.com

In this episode I talk about the difficulty of being overly sensitive, highly sensitive, which coincides with suffering from trauma and Borderline Personality Disorder, and being unable to regulate my emotions. I also talk about Black and White thinking, and "splitting" as it's known to people that suffering from BPD or EUPD (Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder).

- Please support the Zero Suicide Alliance and access the free online training at: zerosuicidealliance.com