This weekend was World Mental Health Day, an important day to shine a light on mental health and people with lived experience of depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar, psychosis, eating disorders, schizophrenia, OCD, PTSD, BPD, EUPD and many other conditions.
Today I want to tell you- do not suffer in silence. If you are struggling please tell a loved one, a therapist or a trusted GP. There are also incredible helplines including Samaritans (116 123 in UK), JTeen, SHOUT and UK charities running services including Noa Girls UK, Jami, SANE, Mind Charity, Bipolar UK and Rethink Mental Illness.
(image: E Mandelstam)
Ive written about my journey with Bipolar 1 and PTSD/Panic disorder. Please make sure you do not suffer with painful feelings or dark thoughts alone. Talking saved my life and I hope it will help you on the road to recovery. You matter and you are not alone.
You can also call NHS 111 option 2 for urgent mental health support and call 999 for emergencies.
Remember the theme this year is for those of us with lived experience to talk safely and make change where we can.
Recently, I received an email about an incredible project by ‘Steel from Gladiators’ star Zack George who has launched the Zactiv Glimmer Pad. This is a brand new tool designed to support children’s overall health and wellbeing.
I was told that ‘Taking a holistic approach, the Glimmer Pad combines journalling, creative activities, and positive habit building to support both mental and physical health.’
The product builds on the success of Zactiv, Zack George’s children’s wellbeing programme, which is already booked through to February 2028 and reaches over 5,000 children aged 5 to 11 each month in schools. Known for combining movement, confidence building, and mindset coaching, Zactiv has rapidly become a trusted name in children’s development, with the Glimmer Pad extending that experience into children’s everyday routines at home.
Children are guided to reflect on their day, explore their emotions, and build healthy routines through structured diary pages. The introduction of “glimmers” encourages them to focus on small positive moments, helping to reduce stress and build a more balanced outlook. There are also beautiful colouring pages with positive motivational words and stories about healthy eating and fitness, suitable for kids.
The Glimmer Pad has been shaped by Zack’s work with teachers in schools and by coaching tools from Happy Confident Kids. As a Dad himself, Zack has seen first-hand how important it is to create simple, positive activities that children genuinely enjoy engaging with away from screens.
Zack said, “Health is not just about being active. It is about how you think, how you feel, and the habits you build every day. The Glimmer Pad is designed to support the whole child, inside and out.”
(image: Zack George)
The launch comes as concerns around children’s screen time and wellbeing continue to grow. By encouraging reduced screen time and more mindful activities, the Glimmer Pad helps children create healthier daily patterns while building confidence and emotional awareness. Built around the message Strong Body, Calm Mind, Happy Heart, the Zactiv Glimmer Pad offers a simple yet effective way to support children’s long-term wellbeing.
From a personal view, I was honoured to be sent a Zactiv Glimmer Pad to review. It has a vibrant orange colour with motivational messages. This pad teaches children how to use their journal pages to describe their feelings and defines what glimmers are and a growth mindset. It also helps children to understand healthy eating and to be aware of their emotions daily. I particularly loved the positive colouring pages and stories at the back and I would recommend the Glimmer Pad to parents and carers of children, to help teach about emotions and healthy living.
The Zactiv Glimmer Pad is available now from www.glimmerpad.co.uk and Amazon UK, priced at £24.99.
I received a gifted Glimmer Pad in exchange for an honest review, all views my own.
This week I was on a call with a very special friend, the talented illustrator of Arabella and the Worry Cloud (our kids book on anxiety)- Shelley. I was speaking to her about the challenges of being a self-employed independent writer- financial and as a founder, everything being on you. She told me to believe in myself and my writing and not give up! Those kind words have meant everything during a challenging time.
Then, today, I decided to pick an affirmation from my flip chart (that another lovely friend had got me for my birthday) without looking. I flipped the chart over and not only does it have pink roses (a special flower to me that is a positive sign I asked for) but I received the message,
‘The greatest things take time so never give up.’
And so, even though being a writer, a creative can be exhausting when you aren’t famous with lots of money coming in- I remember why I wrote Arabella, the children I wrote for and who need to hear its message. And because I have had this message twice this week, I will not give up. On my writing, on my journey through life and its ups and downs. I won’t give up on my first book either.
Most people first meet cognitive behavioural therapy as a single sentence. CBT, the sentence goes, is about challenging negative thoughts. True, in the way that a driving lesson is about pressing pedals. I am a CBT therapist, so I have an obvious bias here. I also know it does not suit everybody, and it is not the only route out of anxiety. What I can do is tell you what the work actually looks like from the inside, week by week, so that if you are weighing it up you know what you would be signing up for.
Before the first session: what you want to be different ?
Therapy starts with a goal, and “I want to stop feeling anxious” is not a workable one. Anxiety is not the enemy. It is your body doing something it evolved to do, and nobody switches it off for good. The useful question is smaller and more concrete. What is the anxiety stopping you doing? Where does it show up in a normal week? Then we make the target a behaviour rather than a feeling. Getting back on the train. Going to the meal without rehearsing an exit. Speaking in the meeting without scripting it twice in the shower first. Feelings are the last thing to move. Behaviour moves first.
Session one: the map, not the lecture
A first session is not a taught lecture on the cognitive model. I ask for one recent moment when the anxiety turned up, and I ask for it in detail. Where were you? Who else was there? What went through your mind, in the words it actually used? What did you do? What did your body do? Then we draw that single episode out on paper together. It still surprises me how much of the whole difficulty is already sitting inside one moment. Nothing is general and nothing is theoretical, which matters, because vague questions get vague answers, and vague answers change nothing.
Sessions two to four: the part people don’t expect
Popular writing talks almost entirely about thoughts, because thoughts are the easiest corner to describe. But the cognitive model has three corners, and the corner that keeps anxiety topped up is behaviour. Safety behaviours are the ones I mean. They rarely look dramatic. Arriving early so you can pick a seat near the door. Checking the route three times. Preparing a story in case anyone asks what you do. Taking one drink to take the edge off. These are sensible, understandable things to do, and they work in the short term, which is exactly the trap. Every time you get through something with the crutch, you learn nothing about what would have happened without it. The frightening prediction never gets tested, so it never has to face the evidence. Safe, and stuck.That is why the beginning of the work often looks like doing, not thinking. It is the harder place to start and it is the reason the rest of it holds together.
The middle sessions: exposure, built like a ladder
If there is one active ingredient in CBT for anxiety, it is exposure. That means approaching what you are afraid of, on purpose, in a planned and graded way. It does not mean gritting your teeth and flooding yourself until something breaks. Think of a ladder. The bottom rung should feel uncomfortable, and only mildly so. Take someone frightened of driving on motorways. They do not begin by joining the M25 motorway at rush hour. They sit in the parked car and imagine the drive. Then they ride along as a passenger. Then they drive a short stretch of dual carriageway at a quiet time of day. Then further, at a busier time. Every step has to be uncomfortable enough to count and small enough that it actually gets done, and calibrating that is where most of the clinical judgement lives, because too small means nothing is learned and too big means the person is set up to fail, which teaches them something worse than they started with. Safety behaviours come out of the plan deliberately, one or two at a time, not all at once. Ladders, not leaps. That is the bit people are surprised by.
Later sessions: the therapist does less
A good course of therapy should make itself unnecessary. The aim is not to feel better for one hour a week, it is to leave with a method you can run on your own. By the later sessions I am deliberately doing less and the client is doing more. They set their own tasks. They spot their own unhelpful predictions, in their own words, before I have noticed them. When that starts happening, the work is nearly finished, and the last session feels less like an ending than a handover. Part of that handover is a relapse plan, written down, because anxiety does come back at stressful points. Coming back is not failure. It is weather. When it doesn’t work CBT is a doing therapy. Most of the change happens between sessions, and that means it asks something of you at a point when you are already tired.
That is a real cost and it is worth knowing before you start. It is also not the right shape of help for everyone, and it is not the right time for everyone. If the main difficulty is grief that has not been given room, or a trauma that is still too raw to approach, or a situation that is genuinely unsafe rather than misread, then the work needs to be something else first. A poor fit with the therapist does the same damage. You can do everything asked of you and get nowhere if the person in the room is not the person you can talk to.
Having CBT once and finding it didn’t help is not evidence about you. It may have been the wrong moment, the wrong shape of support, or a room where you couldn’t be honest. All three are fixable.
What to ask before you see a therapist
Four questions, and the answers tell you a lot.
How much will I be expected to do between sessions, and what does that look like in a normal week?
What would you be working on with my particular problem, specifically?
How will we both know it is working, and what happens if it isn’t?
And do they have a fixed number of sessions in mind before they have actually met you, which is the one that should make you cautious, because the work takes the time it takes.
Anxiety responds to evidence gathered in your own life, not to being told to relax. That is the whole idea. It is slower than people expect and more ordinary, and it works. Guidance for generalised anxiety usually puts a course at around 12 to 15 weekly sessions of an hour, so a number in that range is a fair planning figure. It is not a promise, and no one should be making promises before they have met you.
Peter Klein is a CBT therapist who works with anxiety and OCD, in person in Richmond, UK and through online CBT therapy across the UK.
The intrusive thoughts. The compulsions. The shame. The reality of living with OCD.
“It’s not about having all the answers. It’s about making you feel less alone.”
Rose Ellen Dix, one half of YouTube couple Rose & Rosie, is getting more personal than ever in RoseCD, a new podcast exploring her lifelong experience of living with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
Rose has lived with OCD throughout her life and was diagnosed aged 17. She is now exploring her experience of the condition in depth through RoseCD, sharing what it feels like to live with OCD in her own words, with honesty, humour and warmth. Now, in her first podcast dedicated entirely to her own experience, she is talking openly about the parts of OCD that are often misunderstood or left unsaid — from intrusive thoughts and compulsions to health anxiety, shame, perfectionism, panic spirals and the impact it can have on relationships.
RoseCD is a ten-episode first season .The podcast is entirely self-produced by Rose, with episodes based on her own lived experience rather than a clinical or expert perspective.
“I live with OCD. Not as an expert and not as a clinician. As someone who’s spent almost twenty years trying to understand their own brain. RoseCD isn’t about teaching people what OCD is. It’s about showing them what it feels like.”
“I wanted to make something that I would have wanted when I was younger — something that made me feel less weird, less ashamed and less alone,” says Rose. “OCD can make you think you’re the only person in the world having a particular thought. Sometimes just hearing someone else say, ‘I’ve thought that too,’ can make a huge difference.”
Rose says the aim is simple: to talk honestly about what OCD actually feels like from the inside, share what she has learned about living with it, and create a space where people can recognise thoughts they may have been too frightened, embarrassed or ashamed to say out loud.
RoseCD is available on Spotify and digital platforms. If you have been affected by anything discussed in this release, Samaritans are available free, day or night, on 116 123.
Living with bipolar 1 from the age of 16 meant living with deep depressions, of which suicidal thoughts were a part. Being able to safely share these with family and psychiatrists in the past saved my life and helped me hold on in the dark moments of bipolar episodes. I am not alone in feeling this way- millions are struggling now, today. Medication, therapy and support keep me well.
So today I read from my essay in this very special book to tell you- ‘You will feel the sun and smell the rain again, even after suicidal depressions when you lay in bed wanting to disappear. ‘
Please reach for help when you start getting these thoughts and hold on- a better day is coming. Helpline numbers includingSamaritans at 116 123 are available if you need to talk and feel in crisis.
I also know the devastation of losing a loved one to suicide and conversely, to help people through these thoughts. Their stories are not my own so I am not sharing them today but I hope that today and every day we focus on suicide prevention and support for all who are struggling.
Shana Tova U’Metuka, a happy and sweet new Jewish year to everyone celebrating and marking Rosh Hashana this weekend. Rosh Hashana is an important Jewish festival where we gather with family and friends, pray at synagogue or home and reflect on our relationship with G-d and what we need to change in the coming year ahead. It’s also time to ask for things, to dream and to plan- oh and to eat honey cake or apple and honey for a sweet year too!
This year has had many blessings but also many difficult moments that I will reveal at the right time. So, I pray for a happy, healthy, sweet, prosperous, joyous New Year with all dreams manifesting if meant to be. I am grateful to still be running this blog after a decade and to be able to share my thoughts and emotions here. I am grateful for all my blessings- 2016 me who set up this blog would not quite have believed what happened in the past 10 years!
Thank you all for reading this blog and for supporting it. We are here to help people feel less alone, to promote recovery and healing and good treatment for all who live with mental illness or are in remission from episodes.
If you are struggling with your mental health this Rosh Hashana (or feeling at risk of harm)-to save your life, please reach out to mental health services or helplines like Samaritans (116 123)
Many people die every day and every hour from suicide in the UK and globally. 7000 lives lost a year on average in the UK to suicide and 75% of these are men according to research by CALM charity.
Taking their own lives is often the only way they can see to end their own deep pain and suffering- whether as a result of trauma, mental health issues and life circumstances (abuse, addiction, divorce, parenting struggles being just a few).
If you feel suicidal or very low, please tell a trusted person or if in the UK call Samaritans on 116 123.
Today’s blog is about a very special calming self care gift box – The Steady Box that was kindly sent to me by post to review from James Marchant at The Little Box of Mindfulness here in the UK.
I chose the Steady Box to review as someone who lives with an anxiety disorder at times and I wanted to see this self care box and how it can help calm anxiety by being mindful. The Steady Box is created for ‘people navigating anxiety, worry or emotionally overwhelming periods. A thoughtful gift designed to bring grounding, reassurance and gentle moments of calm.’. The Steady Box creates space for pause, presence and the feeling of being supported.
I opened the little black box and on the packaging it says ‘You are in someone’s mind this moment is yours‘. So already as you open it, you are feeling loved and welcomed. Each box also includes access to digital mindfulness practices, extending the feeling of care long after the gift is received. When you open the little box which is compact and fits through a letter box easily, you open to a winking face and a message- ‘You are not your thoughts, this moment is yours. Breathe. You’ve got this.‘ and some beautiful resources nestled within:
(image: The Little Box of Mindfulness)
A painted blue and cream handcrafted ceramic thumb stone (created by a local potter) to help with mindfulness and slow breathing when anxious. You hold it between your thumb and finger, focus mindfully on its texture and weight and then breathe slowly, returning to the present. The stone feels so calming and will make a lovely gift to a friend or loved one who needs to practise calming anxiety through mindfulness and breathing.
A Little Mindfulness box- a ‘Pause Pack’ containing items to help you ‘reconnect and reflect’, exploring at your own pace. These contain reflection cards with calming photos, affirmations about dealing with anxiety and lifes challenges( and finding strength and peace) and on the back, mindfulness prompts. They remind you to be in this moment, be still, breathe, name and ground yourself in the present;
There is also a leaflet teaching you how to ground yourself in the present (eg 5 things you can see, 4 things you can heal, 3 things you can hear) and a QR code for digital mindfulness resources that James has curated online.
Lastly, the box includes a Mindful Checklist card where you can tick off activities to help calm anxiety through mindfulness eg ‘I drank some water’, ‘I moved my body’, ‘I reminded myself I am safe’, I let go of one unhelpful thought’ , ‘I paused and noticed my breath.‘
(image: Little Box of Mindfulness)
This box retails at £15 and it makes the perfect letter box gift to send to a friend that needs to breathe, find a moment of peace to steady and ground themselves. I would recommend it as someone who lives with anxiety- I particularly liked the calming activity of slowing down and breathing with the thumbstone. As someone who has learnt a bit about how to practise mindfulness, I would say this box would be particularly useful at managing anxiety before it turns into a panic attack.
The Little Box of Mindfulness describes this as a’ refined letterbox gift for moments when words feel hard to find. A way to offer reassurance, presence and the quiet message that someone is thinking of them.‘. I would agree that it would make a lovely gift to send to reassure someone!
James Marchant, the founder and creator of the Little Box of Mindfulness, said to me, “I created these boxes with the simple hope of helping people feel remembered and supported during difficult moments, so it means a great deal to know the Steady Box resonated with you personally.” I truly love these products and the story behind them!
James created ‘The Little Box of Mindfulness’ due to his own battle with anxiety, stress and career burn out. He says, ” I’ve experienced anxiety in my own life and have seen first-hand how difficult moments can affect both individuals and families.The Little Box Of Mindfulness was created from a simple belief: when someone is struggling, small acts of kindness can make a real difference.Sometimes it’s hard to know what to say or how to help. My hope is that these letterbox gifts make it a little easier to reach out and remind someone they’re not alone.”
James’ story is so inspiring and I truly love these gift boxes and the concept. As well as the Steady Box there are two other boxes in the mindfulness range. They also sell beautiful self care mental health gift sets for thinking of you, bereavement, stress and burn out which are lovely and contain different treats. You can see all the mental health gift sets here: https://littleboxofmindfulness.co.uk/collections/mental-health-gift
Thank you James for gifting me this wonderful box to review!
(Image: Little Box of Mindfulness)
This article is a sponsored and gifted review. All thoughts on the product are my genuine review.
Not everyone can understand or relate to what feeling overwhelmed is really like, nor can anyone truly control whether they experience it or not. Typically, we feel overwhelmed when our brains reach their capacity to process and store information.
Decades of scientific research have allowed us to understand some of the triggers that can cause us to feel overwhelmed, and chances are, you will be no stranger to a few of them. It can sometimes be as simple as a lack of sleep, which can cause the brain to process information at a much slower rate than usual. Sleep deprivation alone isn’t a direct cause of feeling overwhelmed. It’s common for other factors like daily responsibilities, work stress and life changes to also make it harder for our brains to think clearly and rationally. In this article, we will discuss some of the main causes of overwhelm and how to navigate the feeling if it arises.
Factors That Drive Feeling Overwhelmed
Everyone experiences overwhelm differently. For some, it’s an evident but manageable feeling, whereas for others, it can be completely overpowering and intense. Overwhelm occurs when our brains experience cognitive fatigue, which can be caused by a number of factors. Sensory saturation is one of the most common causes of overwhelm and occurs when too many sensory stimuli overload the brain at once. Sensory stimuli are anything you see, smell, hear, touch or taste. Some stimuli tend to be more taxing than others, for example, constant phone notifications or a repetitive background noise. When our brains process too many stimuli at once, our nervous system is constantly activated and rarely gets to switch off and reset.
Feeling overwhelmed can also be caused by unrealistic expectations or perfectionism. If you hold yourself to extremely high standards that are impossible to live by, you can easily become overwhelmed when everything seems equally urgent and important. Life’s not perfect, and it’s also unpredictable, which is why when you aim for perfection or strict control over your life, you can feel overwhelmed with how challenging it can actually be.
Some people feel overwhelmed by very specific situations, usually because of a traumatising event they’ve previously experienced, which has caused their nervous system to be stuck in overdrive. Experiencing a traumatic event can be life-changing for your nervous system, as it can easily become hypervigilant to everyday occurrences that could put you in danger. While it’s essential that your body is alert to life-threatening situations, it can be damaging if your nervous system stays in this fight-or-flight state longer than necessary. Essentially, your body is always in survival mode, which exhausts your nervous system and impairs your brain’s functioning, making you feel overwhelmed and exhausted much more quickly than others.
It’s helpful to understand the different situations that can trigger overwhelm to arise, but it’s important to also recognise that there are some situations that are harder to prevent, such as overwhelm in the workplace. In more serious cases, individuals may be entitled to mental injury compensation if workplace conditions have caused overwhelming stress that has developed into a recognised mental health condition. These situations prove just how serious feeling overwhelmed can be if it’s not treated.
How To Recharge After Feeling Overwhelmed
The quickest and most effective way to recharge after feeling overwhelmed is to take a break from everything in front of you. If you’re overwhelmed by your environment or even your phone, try removing yourself and find a quiet, secluded space where you can slow your thoughts down. Block notifications on your phone so that you can’t be triggered by the
noise or thoughts they provoke. Although many find it difficult, deep breathing and grounding techniques are great for slowing down your nervous system so that you feel in control of your thoughts again. A popular grounding method involves paying attention to what’s around you, and naming what you can see, feel, hear, smell and taste. This technique directs your focus to the present moment and acts as a distraction from the overwhelming thoughts you might be experiencing. It’s also a proven technique to calm anxiety.
Another scientifically-proven technique to release feelings of stress when you become overwhelmed is to physically move your body. Whether it’s a light stroll, stretching or a brisk walk, physical activity lowers stress hormones like cortisol and flushes out toxic chemicals that have built up in your muscles, helping you to instantly feel more relaxed.
(image: Brett Jordan: Unsplash)
How To Get Help When You Feel Overwhelmed
Dealing with overwhelm by yourself can be extremely challenging, especially when it occurs regularly. The best help you can get with feeling overwhelmed is support from family, friends or a professional service. Never feel embarrassed or afraid to reach out for support if you’re struggling with feelings of overwhelm. It is a common experience, and with the right support and coping strategies, it can be effectively managed.
