Time to Talk: Locks off for lockdown
Hello & thank you for considering sponsoring me!
My lockdown hair has become out of control and a nuisance and I have always wanted to shave my hair but never had the guts. What better time to take the plunge and try and raise some money for a an extremely worthy cause at the same time?!
I will be lopping off my locks on Saturday 27 Feb 2021 and will be sure to update you with a picture of the finished article :-)
I'm a 37 year old woman, who has suffered for many years with my own mental health since my teens with depression, anxiety, self harm and suicide attempts. 20 years ago, there really was no help available to me unless I was willing to wait for weeks on a waiting list, by that point it felt too late and the longer I went untreated, the worse I felt about myself and how I was ever going to feel better. I felt a burden, that because there was nothing physically wrong, I wouldn't be taken seriously and that it was "all in my head".
As a child I was quite solitary and alone because I couldn't connect to people my own age and I was very fearful of people or getting something wrong and looking stupid. I spent a lot of time playing by myself or visiting my nan because in the company of older people, I felt safe and that I wouldn't be judged. By the time I reached my teenage years that progressed and I became angry with chronic mood swings. On a bad day, my parents didn't know what to do to help and were at their wits end with worry.
I would bottle up emotions, never really understanding how I felt or why and I had no idea how to express my mental and emotional turmoil. The only relief I could get was by cutting my arms, it gave me an outlet and a release from the pain I was feeling. The scars I have 20 years later are a sad reminder of how lost I was and how much pain I must have been in back then.
Thankfully, it isn't quite as bad as that today and I am able to express how I feel verbally. I still suffer with anxiety on a daily basis, but I have started treatment by talking honestly and openly about how I feel and try to take every day as it comes. I've trained as a Mental Health First Aider and to see that "Time to Talk" service is available to young people when it's needed the most is remarkable. It's great to see the stigma be slowly lifted on mental health issues and see that help is much more readily available.
Thanks so much
xx
My lockdown hair has become out of control and a nuisance and I have always wanted to shave my hair but never had the guts. What better time to take the plunge and try and raise some money for a an extremely worthy cause at the same time?!
I will be lopping off my locks on Saturday 27 Feb 2021 and will be sure to update you with a picture of the finished article :-)
I'm a 37 year old woman, who has suffered for many years with my own mental health since my teens with depression, anxiety, self harm and suicide attempts. 20 years ago, there really was no help available to me unless I was willing to wait for weeks on a waiting list, by that point it felt too late and the longer I went untreated, the worse I felt about myself and how I was ever going to feel better. I felt a burden, that because there was nothing physically wrong, I wouldn't be taken seriously and that it was "all in my head".
As a child I was quite solitary and alone because I couldn't connect to people my own age and I was very fearful of people or getting something wrong and looking stupid. I spent a lot of time playing by myself or visiting my nan because in the company of older people, I felt safe and that I wouldn't be judged. By the time I reached my teenage years that progressed and I became angry with chronic mood swings. On a bad day, my parents didn't know what to do to help and were at their wits end with worry.
I would bottle up emotions, never really understanding how I felt or why and I had no idea how to express my mental and emotional turmoil. The only relief I could get was by cutting my arms, it gave me an outlet and a release from the pain I was feeling. The scars I have 20 years later are a sad reminder of how lost I was and how much pain I must have been in back then.
Thankfully, it isn't quite as bad as that today and I am able to express how I feel verbally. I still suffer with anxiety on a daily basis, but I have started treatment by talking honestly and openly about how I feel and try to take every day as it comes. I've trained as a Mental Health First Aider and to see that "Time to Talk" service is available to young people when it's needed the most is remarkable. It's great to see the stigma be slowly lifted on mental health issues and see that help is much more readily available.
Thanks so much
xx
Organizer
Louise Barham
Organizer
TIME TO TALK WEST BERKSHIRE
Beneficiary