Margaret Seal, a mental health service user and active member of several local support groups, died recently from a heart attack after a long period of illness.
She was actively involved in Central Cheshire Mental Health Forum, the Open Minds groups in Crewe & Nantwich and Congleton, Central and East Cheshire LINk and South Cheshire Community Council. This photograph of her was taken at the Open Minds 2004 event in Sandbach, which she helped to organise.
We have been informed that Margaret's funeral will take place at 11.30am on Monday 5th March at Coppenhall Methodist Chapel, North Street, Crewe followed by a Cremation Service at Crewe Crematorium at 12.40.
The body's reaction to stress is based on the fight-or-flight response, which is a relic of our evolutionary heritage for dealing with danger. In the past it served us well, allowing us to survive attacks by predators and other natural threats.
When we sense danger a surge of adrenaline is released, triggering a cascade of bodily changes such as increased heart rate and breathing, strengthening muscles, and closing down systems that are not immediately needed, such as digestion and the immune system. This reaction is healthy and normal - some people seek to trigger it by participating in dangerous sports for example, because they enjoy the feelings of exhilaration which follow.
The possibility that I might have lived previous lives is one that has intrigued me, and having reached an age where well over half of my expected life span has already gone the possibility that I might come around again seems increasingly attractive. However the scientific training I had earlier in my career makes me cautious and sceptical. It is clear that biological life stops at death, and it is hard to see what else there could be that could preserve the memories of my current life independently of my physical form. On the other hand there is an accumulating body of evidence for reincarnation that should not be dismissed out of hand.
Accidents and other distressing events happen to all of us at some time in our lives. Sometimes we take these in our stride and live through them unscathed, but some events can leave a residue that continues to affect us years later.
I've been trying to write this article on psychological trauma for over a year now, and each time I do I seem to end up with nothing but a series of lists. The problem is that the causes and effects of trauma are so diverse and widespread that it's hard to do justice to it in any other way. So there seems to be no option but to bow to the inevitable, and present the lists. These have been culled from a range of sources, and although they are lengthy I make no guarantee that they are complete.
Causes of trauma
Our brains are immensely complex pieces of machinery, vastly more complex than the computer you might have on your desk. As a complex and delicate machine the brain is vulnerable to damage or trauma.
In the ten years since I created The Hope Street Centre I have always been keen to network with colleagues in mental health services of all kinds—public sector, independent and voluntary. In that time reorganisation has been happening almost non-stop as roles, responsibilities, targets, funding and geographical boundaries have all changed over and over again.
I am sure that many of my colleagues would prefer a period of stability rather than yet more change, but that seems unlikely to happen. The new coalition government is intent on driving through change at high speed, and with Britain’s debt now estimated at £4 trillion or £200,000 for every taxpayer* they have very little choice.
A major component of the new strategy is involving local groups and service providers in delivering services. This is not a new idea, and I have seen it happening in East Cheshire for several years. Some examples of the way this centre has been involved are listed below.
Welcome!
Welcome to our first fully electronic newsletter!
Reflecting on my experiences of producing this newsletter I realise how much internal resistance I had to overcome before I could get started. I can track this back to early experiences of being trained as a helpline volunteer and being told never to leave a message on a caller's answering machine: "Why not?" I asked naively.
"What if the wrong person hears the message - perhaps the caller didn't want them to know they were talking to us. What if leaving that message causes your caller to be battered or abused?"
Pondering all these "what if's" has made me much more cautious about issues of confidentiality and privacy, but there is another side to it. If we keep quiet about mental health and therapy we perpetuate the stigma that still exists, and that can prevent people getting the help they need.
January is the time of new beginnings when we think of New Year resolutions. Why is it that all too often these do not last beyond the end of the month? In this article I offer some tips for turning these aspirations into permanent change.
I recently attended a meeting of the Cheshire East Local Involvement Network (LINk) where a speaker from Jobcentre Plus gave a talk on the government's changes to Incapacity Benefit, and how these might affect people with mental health difficulties. It was an interesting and candid talk, and contained a lot of information useful to people who depend on this benefit or those who care for them.
In a Mastermind group participants come together to support one another to set and achieve goals, brainstorm ideas, and challenge one another with honesty and respect. The group becomes a catalyst for growth, a place to test ideas, get realistic feedback and encouragement to move forward.
Characteristics of a group
Before starting my new career in psychotherapy and life coaching, I worked for 20 years in technical fields - the chemical industry, process control and automation, programming, software and information technology. I became aware that technical people were often the creative life-blood of their organisations, but all too often did not receive the status and financial rewards they deserved. All too often it was the financial and sales people who called the shots, while the programmers and engineers were bogged down with problem solving and fire fighting.
Are you sometimes confused about what constitutes a single unit of alcohol? Or would you like to know what ‘healthy limits’ actually means? In this article, we give some straightforward, easy to follow information that will allow you to calculate how much alcohol you are drinking and establish whether it falls within healthy limits.
Depression is a condition which affects many people in their lives. This article discusses some of the reasons why it happens and what can be done about it.
Mild phobias are extremely common, as I discovered recently when talking to a group of friends - out of six people all of us had something we would go out of our way to avoid because of fear, including heights, trains, cats and cows! When phobias become more intense they can lead to strong fear reactions such as panic attacks, and become extremely limiting. For example, someone who is extremely fearful of spiders will start to avoid any situation where a spider might be encountered - since spiders can turn up almost anywhere this could mean avoiding going out, avoiding friends houses, shops, going in the garden, certain rooms in the house, and so on.
Stress Management
If stress is a problem in your organisation there are a number of ways we can help. Stress management strategies can be put in place, firstly identifying the causes of stress, educating employees in techniques for coping better, and providing assistance for staff who are already suffering symptoms.
Psychological Therapies
Sometimes stress is caused by more complex factors, both inside and outside the workplace. Accidents and traumatic events, bullying and harassment, illness, alcohol and drug abuse are all contributory factors that can be addressed by psychological therapies.
Anxiety is a condition which can affect us all at any time. A modest amount of it does no harm, in fact it can serve to keep us out of trouble. But too much anxiety can lead to symptoms such as panic, phobias such as agoraphobia and claustrophobia, stage fright, and so on. In extreme forms it can become paralysing, making it impossible to carry on the normal activities of living, working and relating to people.
In helping many people work through their anxiety in counselling and psychotherapy, I have come to the conclusion that there is always an underlying cause for the anxiety. It may not be easy to find the cause, as it may have happened at a time before the earliest memories, but I believe that the cause always exists. Some typical causes include
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