Carer Networking in the UK

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Being a carer can be so isolating, especially if you are new to the caring world. Be it if you are caring for someone suffering chronic physical problems or mental health issues, you need to devote time and energy into caring for them.

Carers UK National Summit is fast approaching and takes place on the 26th of November 2015. Unfortunately if you are reading this blog post a few days before then it could be difficult to attend the Carers UK summit, but before I go into more detail about Carer Networking. What is Carers UK all about?

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World Mental Health Day 2015 – Dignity

20140621_215858Hi everyone, welcome to another blog post from Matthew Mckenzie a mental health carer from the London Borough of Lewisham. As of this blog post, it is World Mental Health Day 2015 or #WMHD2015. There are lots of events that are being held on October the 10th, but there are plenty more mental health events being held in the month of October.

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Lewisham Mental Health Conference 2015 – Speaking Out & Creating Community

Welcome to another blog post on mental health and carers. This blog post is on the Lewisham Mental Health Connection conference for 2015.

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The Lewisham Mental Health Connection or LMHC for short stands to put mental health awareness on the map in Lewisham. It is not to say that other organisations do not do enough to raise mental health awareness and combat mental health issues, but with the LMHC the power is in the connections where organisations, groups and individuals work together to make a change in the community.

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My post for World Suicide Prevention day 2015

matthew mckenzieSorry I have not blogged for a while since as with many mental health carers, I am currently caring in crisis. It can be so difficult, but when a loved one has to be placed in a mental health unit, then other things need to be placed on hold.

As of this blog post, I am one of those mental health carers trying to keep things stable while recovery for my loved one is vital.

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Don’t be pushed away as a Mental Health carer

20141107_143004_2For those who are caring for someone suffering mental health problems, be it addictions, a form of psychosis, Compulsive disorders, serve depression and so on. This blog post is mainly for you.

As mental health carers we are often on the border line. If you are a mental health carer, you want to do what is right for whoever you care for. Sometimes Mental Health carers can find themselves being pushed out. Sometimes mental health carers are left being isolated. Sometimes mental health carers are ignored or bullied.

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The El Camino review

Welcome back to another one of my blog posts. This time my post is going to be on another event I attended some time ago. I had actually meant to write up about my experience at this event much sooner, but unfortunately I fell unwell due to a nasty cold. However never mind about that, I feel much better now and to be honest one of the reasons I felt a lot better was my experience at the El Camino performance provide by the Alchemy Project.

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Carers networking – the reasons why its important

Matthew McKenzie copyThanks for visiting my mental health carers blog. Sorry to not have blogged for a while since I have only managed to get myself a horrible cold, although I have now recovered. I thought to blog about networking and if you have gone through my other posts, you would have realised that I attend many events especially mental health and carer events. My emphasis is that carers should try to avoid being isolated, which is one of the most unfortunate things to happen to a carer.

If you do not know already a carer is someone who takes time out to carer for someone perhaps a family, friend or neighbour. Carers most often do not do this out of choice, carers hate to see their loved ones suffer if they feel support is lacking for whoever they are looking after. There are of course many other reasons why people, families and communities feel compelled to care, but I want to save that for another blog.

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My visit to the Lewisham Peoples Day 2015

Every summer the London Borough of Lewisham holds its Lewisham Peoples day.  The festival takes place over at Mountsfield Park and lasts most of the day.

So for Lewisham Peoples day 2015, I wanted to try and blog about the festival, although mainly about the Mental Health and Well-Being angle, which is what I was interested in.

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As a member of the Lewisham Mental Health Connection, I spent some time at their stall talking to staff and volunteers.  The weather was lovely, I did not notice any trouble and people were friendly.  It was a great day out, but I coming from a mental health and well-being background, it was not long before I checked out the other stalls at the festival.

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The Arts and Addiction debate : Twelve

20141107_143004_2Welcome to another of my mental health blog posts. Every now and then I attend events regarding mental health, carer awareness, psychology or psychiatry field or just general health events. However although I enjoy attending such lovely events, I really enjoy events, presentations or debates on Art.

I admit that I am not an artist myself although I am creative, I am certainly not an Art critique either, but then when attending art events, I feel my lack of knowledge can be a good thing, because I have so much to gain and much to learn and enjoy.

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Croydons Hear Us Open Forum July 2015

Thanks for checking out my blog post on mental health updates, reviews and summaries.  Even though I am a carer from Lewisham, I am involved in the Mental Health Trust that provides services in South / South East London, although I do admit I sometimes wander away from South London and sometimes head to other boroughs.

As usual I tend to visit the borough of Croydon to get updates and also raise questions concerning mental health services in that area.  I took the time to review Hear Us (Mental Health Service User Project) open forum.

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