Over-educated, underpaid #LivedExperienceProfessional. Working towards equality & parity of pay for openly ‘Mad’ people working in MH. BIGSPD Exec. #MadTwitter
Apr 4 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
1) I’ve just been to @BournbrookMC surgery, crying my eyes out in the waiting room, the nurse asked me if I wanted a hug. The Dr was so kind and listened to me b4 the procedure to check I was ok. Switch to the @bsmhft #MentalHealth waiting room where security searches u & ur bag>
2) Attending #MentalHealth spaces feels criminalising and degrading from the entrance to the space itself. I’m only here because after 3/4 calls being bounced between 2 services with no call backs as promised from either while I’ve been really distressed, it’s seemed more >
Mar 22 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
1/ I actually wanted to die, slash my arms, scream at the injustice I’d experienced & everyone who caused that hurt & pain. Ppl who survive to older ages know the pain never stops being excruciating, acting out the pain doesn’t help, eventually it passes, the cycle starts again.>
2/ Pain still somatises if you don’t let it out one way or another. I’ve lost my health & my identity, a shell of who I was. But I am really lucky, because I have a support network & I don’t want to hurt them. They are rallying round, @bigwolfband have been so kind about >
Feb 14 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
1/ #MadTwitter: I keep getting a call from 0800 072 0161 & Googling it I am getting mixed results on whether it’s @DWPgovuk or it being a scam call. I have a #PIP tribunal: the @CapitaPlc assessor after her usual bonus by lowering claim. Health EVEN WORSE now. Can’t even drive. >
2/ There are not adequate words for how much I loathe these people. My epilepsy is uncontrolled so although I get a free bus pass it’s not much use if I’m shaky or having absences & taxis are so fricking expensive. Plus I’ve lost my safe space mental health wise, never realised >
Dec 21, 2023 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
1/Imagine working for 11y to create senior #LXP posts in an org. You hear one’s coming up, but you keep asking & get told it’s either not happening or ‘I don’t know’. Then you find out they recruited TWO posts months ago without telling you. Not naming, but you should be ashamed>
Personally I’m sick and tired of being a Mary fucking Poppins, advocating for change, seeing other ppl reap the benefit (that’s a good thing) but constantly being kicked in the c*** myself. I got bills and a roof to pay for as well. It’s not just me. Most activists who challenge>
Oct 23, 2023 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
1. Even prisoners have beds. But you know what works even better than ‘suicide-proofing’ like this? Try being kind. ‘Prison staff’ on ‘x to 1’ could try talking with, not about, the person they are assigned to ‘watch’. A comfortable, humanising bed. >
2. Design companies should be tasked with comfort primarily in mind when suicide proofing furniture. People with traumatised minds need to feel nurtured as well as safe. In the daytime many inpatient wards have bored support staff watching public areas, patients & nurses hiding >
Oct 23, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
1/ The #NHS is notorious 4 complaints of #StaffBullying. However, I was shocked that @uhbtrust staff survey said 53% felt bullied. Sexual harassment. Suicide of staff. Even so, every time I’ve been to #epilepsy appts these staff have treated me well 💔❤️🩹❤️ bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…
2/Part of fixing systems of abuse of patients is often linked to fixing abuse of staff. Even for #MentalHealth emergency treatment, I remember not feeling shamed at the local QE hospital, although I doubt this happens at most others UHB trust A&Es from what I have experienced >
Apr 19, 2023 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
1) @Keirwales is the ultimate Marmite Man. You love him or hate him. But put that aside. He’s doing a brave thing. Speaking about how he raised a concern about harm to SUs. Instead of investigating the complaint, he was investigated. > #RCOTCassonrcot.co.uk/2023-elizabeth…2) The story of being punished when raising concerns will be familiar to many of us. The lecture’s theme is ‘Nothing Flourishes in a Toxic Environment’. Keir is a white cis educated man who took a stand to avoid harm to vulnerable people. How do people from already marginalised >
Mar 23, 2023 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
1/ I loved yesterday’s panel talk on #Sanism with @viscidula@liminal67@climateshlock et al. We finished by discussing internalised Sanism & how this impacts each of us as individuals & as activists. Nothing hurts like fellow activists tearing you down or bullying you. Part of >
2/ the discussion included #AntiBlack & #Intersectional#Sanism. Why don’t we see people of colour in mainstream MH activism? Because if you don’t feel welcome & you have enough on your plate, why come back to services where you were treated badly? What about if your >
Mar 8, 2023 • 8 tweets • 9 min read
@DonahueRogers@BeresfordPeter@de_jever@Fixed_that_4_U What I don’t understand is that people of colour and ACTUAL JEWS were kicked out of the party for anti-semitism. It makes a mockery of actual anti-semitism which is a disgusting thing. It should also be questioned why marginalised minorities were kicked out of the party by >
@DonahueRogers@BeresfordPeter@de_jever@Fixed_that_4_U >mainly White men & why Jewish voices outside of the party weren’t taken into consideration. The booting out of minorities & Jewish ppl whose politics did not align to those of ppl who were against left-side politics was not ok, nor was conflating anti-semitism with anti-Israeli>
Mar 6, 2023 • 7 tweets • 5 min read
@JerrySoucyRN@jade_w08 Agree with @JerrySoucyRN. Think about ‘colourful hair’ = difference. Black hair is a huge political issue. Kids get sent home for traditional afros or Black hairstyles being viewed as inappropriate. Same at work, people being told they are ‘unprofessional’. The professional >
@JerrySoucyRN@jade_w08 > hairstyles are often viewed as relaxed, closer to Caucasian type hair or short enough to hide the hair as much as possible, especially on men. The different colour uniforms denote hierarchy and power level and they are worn by more Black people at lower Bands and less as you >
@kateneuropsych@kawaiilovesarah@viscidula@SaferAcademia@DisabledAcadem@DisInHigherEd The panel is balanced between people of colour and White People. As a Mixed Race woman, I’ve seen mental health devastate my family members and seen the intersectional mix of saneism and racism in diagnosis and treatment. Saneism is a real thing. It needs a name, a word. >
@kateneuropsych@kawaiilovesarah@viscidula@SaferAcademia@DisabledAcadem@DisInHigherEd > The cruelty of saneism is something I’ve experienced first hand, it has devastated my career as a Lived Experience Professional #LXP. For the very few colleagues of colour who experience both saneism and racism, the experience can be even worse. It is so important to the >
Mar 2, 2023 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
1) I always say I’ve worked as an LXP since 2010. But I forget the work before, my arts practice, focussing on the extremes of emotional pain, mental distress, the way others treated & viewed it. It was activism & narrative from within, naive in a true isolated, outsider sense. >
2) I connected with others in darker corners in darker places from 2005 when I was labelled and our labels connected us and helped us find each other and find comfort in sharing our dark places. Recovery wasn’t our language. When you are chronically in pain, sometimes you need >
Nov 18, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
1. This whole argument sounds like Quantum Physics - one thing can be a wave and a particle. Different ways of looking at stuff is good and bad for different ppl in valid ways. Sounds like SUs need informed choice to co-produce how to approach their care with their clinicians. >
2. Personally, I subscribe to both & neither. There’s so many gaps we don’t understand yet: epilepsy & MH links, the intergenerational trauma of chattel slavery, human trafficking, racism, migration, sexuality & gender, autism. It’s a growing field. We grow with it, surely?
1. Shocked to the core today. Duty staff told me that ‘There a loads of inquiries into suicides all the time’ when I mentioned that there had been one where someone had died after not being able to access services and our CEO had promised to change this. judiciary.uk/wp-content/upl… >
2. I was angry because not one phone call to the duty team had been answered since 4 Oct. Today is 14 Nov. I told the person on Duty some v.personal stuff about my MH. I asked them if they heard what I had said and they replied ‘Yeah you said you can’t get out of bed & have PMT’>
Sep 19, 2022 • 23 tweets • 8 min read
1/ I want to say a great big thank you to @chris_kammy for speaking out about #apraxia affecting his speech. I’ve been inconsolable over the last few days since I’ve discovered that a complication of B12 deficiency & pernicious anaemiaI’ve been diagnosed with, is #aphasia >
2/ I thought a few low vitamin levels was no big deal. I was having the munchies after an injection so I Googled to see if that was a side effect & I stumbled on the complications associated with B12. I have every single one. Some, like heart problems and reproductive stuff >
Aug 18, 2022 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
How can people stay safe when these online (and offline) discussions become ugly? Being on the receiving end several years ago left me feeling shamed and suicidal. Recently I’ve watched as others have experienced the same but felt powerless to do anything beyond support invisibly
> people are allowed different experiences, opinions and how they choose to express these. There may be arguments for and against but personal insults, slurs and misrepresentation of others arguments is seen as fair game and it’s not ok. >
Aug 2, 2022 • 16 tweets • 4 min read
1/ VIOLENCE IN INPATIENT FACILITIES: I keep thinking about when I was last in a psych ward. I almost sucker punched a staff member. They’ll never know. I’ll be forever haunted by it because it would have been an auto-response I’d had no control over but could have got in a shit >
2/ ton of trouble over & badly hurt someone to boot. Remember that when in an inpatient facility the power levels are very imbalanced so my explanation would likely not have been seen as a ‘sane’ explanation or believed. I’d have been pinned down & had several staff on my tail >
Aug 1, 2022 • 14 tweets • 5 min read
1/ Feeling angry. My sister in law is a dual diagnosis physically disabled Black woman who has been trying to get help for ages. A few days ago she collapsed. Now her kidneys may have failed, her prognosis as yet unknown. My bro, a Black man has had better treatment for similar >
2/ issues but has not been able to get her help despite so many efforts. Nobody has taken him seriously. As one point a corrupt PIP assessor even took that away. Health inequalities and multiple intersections of marginalisation literally kills people or batters them so badly >
May 9, 2022 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
1. I’ve been reflecting on the nature of working relationships #LXP staff have with other team members. The nature of open diagnosis for the role means that most see SU first & colleague second, if at all. It makes it impossible to develop the same level of working friendships >
2. which most ppl have a chance to develop. The relationship is based on placating rather than equality. The #LXP experiences smiles, nods or silence when challenging poor practice. No challenge back, because they have no power and are not worthy of the effort of challenging. >
