(Image: Markus Winkler: Unsplash)
Thank you to Anuj and team at FeedSpot for selecting as us a Top 20 Social Anxiety Blog on the web for 2026! We are thrilled to be on the list at number 10.
You can see the full list here: https://bloggers.feedspot.com/social_anxiety_blogs/?feed_id=4606511&_src=f1_newcampaign#h4606511
Eleanor x
On 1st March 2016, I wrote my very first blog about my mental health struggles with bipolar disorder and anxiety. For me, it was an outlet to share with friends and family what I was experiencing after one of the worst bipolar episodes I had faced and after hospitalisation in 2014. I didn’t realise that this traumatic time in my life, would also cause my mental health to dip and struggle further as I developed PTSD symptoms (panic attacks) and sat on a 2 year waiting list for NHS therapy. Professional support was not coming easily during this time, and so this blog became not only a therapeutic outlet but a place to connect with others going through similar things. And to explain to those who had never experienced mental illness, exactly what it can do but just how you can support those experiencing it.
Part of me can’t fully believe that I have been blogging consistently for 10 years. There have been times where I have wanted to give up but this little blog has been my saviour and in truth, helped me to launch a writing career that I did not expect and am so grateful for. It has also helped others to share their mental health stories and products, been a platform for mental health campaigns and charities and I am super proud of the impact we have had. One of our biggest accolades is being a Top 10 UK mental health blog by Vuelio every year since 2018- which means we are having a positive impact and reach!
The blog has published over 800 posts, with hundreds of thousands of views! It is read on every continent with a particularly large readership in the USA (as well as UK and other countries). We have covered so many topics- bipolar disorder, PTSD, anxiety disorders, depression, pre and post natal depression, OCD, BPD, eating disorders, psychosis, mania, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, trichotillomania, addictions (drug, alcohol, gambling), body dysmorphia and mental health topics like child mental health, work stress, emotional burnout, relationships, domestic and sexual abuse, homelessness. We have shared about wellness products and worked with inspiring health and lifestyle brands.
The blog inspired me to share my own story far and wide – writing for mental health charities Mind, Rethink, Time to Change, Bipolar UK, No Panic, SANE and Metro.co.uk, The Telegraph, Happiful, Glamour, Jewish News, Huff Post. Featured in Cosmopolitan, Elle, Yahoo News and other publications. Thank you particularly to the editors at the publications for sharing my story and believing in my mission! This also led to me writing my book ‘Bring me to Light’ which was published in 2019 by Trigger and remains one of my proudest achievements. I then released my children’s book ‘Arabella and the Worry Cloud’ and had some writing featured in ‘The Book of Hope’ by my friends Jonny Benjamin MBE and Britt Pfluger (an amazing experience!). In 2017-18, I was also involved with setting up the Jami mental health shabbat in my community and spoke in several synagogues and at a community festival Limmud with my Dad, about our journey with bipolar. The same year that I started this blog (2016), I also met my now husband, who supports me through all of my writing and mental health work.
As I look back over the past 10 years, to where we were in 2016 with mental health stigma, I am proud to have played a small part in changing the landscape and narrative online around mental illness, particularly bipolar disorder and psychosis. We have many followers on social media platforms and continue to share about mental health and well being and be a resource for all those who need it, so they never feel alone.
(image: Ineffable Living)
Thank you to every single contributor (and every reader) to Be Ur Own Light Blog 2016-2026. Your words and belief in our mission to end the stigma around mental illness have meant the world to me. I hope going forward I can continue to share more real stories, more important information on care and treatment and campaign for better care.
There is still a way to go. NHS waiting lists are too long and care is under funded, leading to not enough beds. Mental health stigma online (and sometimes offline) sadly still remains high. As a society, although we have improved, we still need to fully understand mental health conditions and separate them from the person themselves. I am optimistic that things can and will change.
To everyone reading this going through a period of mental ill health or living with a chronic mental illness, I see you and you are never alone. As a blog community, we can come together to empower each other, so no one ever feels invisible and I hope that I can continue to write too.
Thank you, from my heart, for the past 10 years! Here’s to many more years,
Love and gratitude always,
Eleanor
x
(images: Feedspot)
Thanks to Anuj and the team at Feedspot for giving us these awards! You can check out the full lists here:
https://bloggers.feedspot.com/women_mental_health_blogs
https://bloggers.feedspot.com/uk_bipolar_blogs/?
Really happy to be on these lists!
Love,
Eleanor x
(image: Vuelio)
Thank you so much to Christina and all at Vuelio for listing Be Ur Own Light as a Top 10 UK Mental Health blog for the 8th year running! This is an important accolade to us and this year we have moved up a place to Number 6!
It is an honour to be listed amongst so many fantastic bloggers and organisations who work so hard to bring important mental health content, you can see the full list here . Well done to everyone.
As we approach our 10th blogging year next year, this continues to be so important for us-to educate and battle stigma about all things mental health. Thank you again Vuelio!
Love,
Eleanor x
Thank you Anuj and team at FeedSpot for putting this blog in the Top 5 of 60 Best Bipolar Disorder Blogs on the Internet!
Really grateful to be recognised, as this blog is 9 years old now too! Great to be featured amongst other fantastic blogs educating about mental health and bipolar.
You can click here to see the full list: https://bloggers.feedspot.com/bipolar_disorder_blogs/?feedid=4677954&_src=f1_featured_email
Eleanor x
Thanks so much to Anuj and all at Feedspot for listing us at number 2 in the 20 Best Social Anxiety Blogs on the internet! A true honour to be listed amongst some wonderful blogs.
You can see the Top 20 social anxiety blogs here:
https://bloggers.feedspot.com/social_anxiety_blogs/
With gratitude,
Eleanor x
(image: Ginger Ray)
Whenever 1st March rolls around, I feel a tremendous sense of pride but also – how has it been so many years since I started blogging on WordPress about my mental health?
Be Ur Own Light Blog started on 1st March 2016 after I had had to leave a face to face job because I was having panic attacks and couldn’t get in to work. I saw blogging as a form of therapy.. and in truth, I was only originally sharing with friends and family because I felt really alone with it. That eventually snowballed into me writing for Rethink Mental Illness and then in the national media, speaking at a few in-person events and recording podcasts. It was also an honour to be included in several books including ‘The Book of Hope’ by Jonny Benjamin MBE and Britt Pfluger, talking about life with bipolar.
There’s times I still feel alone with my health but I also have so much support and understanding from family and friends and readers here too, which helps a great deal.
I just want to thank everyone we have collaborated with in the past year (sponsored or not)- brands, charities, businesses, individuals making a difference in the mental health world. Thank you for writing blogs for Be Ur Own Light and our personal mission of taking a sledgehammer to the stigma of mental illness (or trying to!).
Thank you also to everyone who has promoted or bought my books, especially my recent kids book ‘Arabella and the Worry Cloud’. I am so proud of ‘Bring me to Light’ too and hope sharing my story continues to help people.
If you’ve been following this journey for 9 years (or longer)- thank YOU for being here for the ride and continuing to read, support and show up.
It has been harder for me in the past 2 years to authentically share everything about my mental health and other health things on here but one day I hope that our journey can inspire others. I live in remission from Bipolar due to my medications holding me and I never forget daily how lucky I am to have access to mental health medications (due to living in the UK) and an excellent therapist, plus support from family.
Going forward, I will still be blogging but I am hoping that the sequel to Arabella and the Worry Cloud will manifest soon. I have written it, I just need the funds to secure everything! Shout out to my friend and illustrator Shelley. I hope also that Arabella will continue to reach more children and find it’s way to all who need its message.
Thank you all of you for enabling me to blog and write and hopefully help people with bipolar, depression, anxiety, PTSD, panic attacks etc. Thank you to every person who has read a blog, bought a book, shared an article, commissioned me in the press to write an article on mental health or current affairs and to all who have or continue to believe in me- including my amazing husband and family. and of course G-d who is behind everything.
Love and gratitude,
Ellie x
(image: Shelley the Artist/ E Segall)
Exciting times! Thank you so much to my fellow mental health blogger Mandy Kloppers at Thoughts of Life and Love blog for hosting my blog on why I wrote Arabella and the Worry Cloud– to help children with anxiety. I know Shelley illustrated it for the same reason. I had so many worries as a child and young adult- I definitely had my own Worry Cloud!
When I was a little girl and well into my teen years and beyond, I had a lot of anxieties. As a self-confessed empath and worrier, I could feel when something was wrong. This led to separation anxiety with symptoms including nausea at school. Children who have anxiety need to feel safe, settled and above all, heard by parents/carers and the adults in their life at school.
I wrote my first children’s picture book, Arabella and the Worry Cloud, in 2019 and published it last year. It is based on me as a young 7-year-old girl who had a lot of anxiety. In the book, Arabella worries about her socks not fitting on her feet, losing her shoes in a muddy puddle, the rain soaking her and cold freezing her toes, the rainbow in the sky losing its colour, her cat Pickles getting lost, the plants in the garden dying, losing her homework, failing a test and being blown away by the wind. These worries are partly represented by a Worry Cloud that comes down to see her from the sky and threatens to rain on her with all her worries.
Eventually, Arabella realises that if she thinks jolly, happy, sunny thoughts in place of the worries, she can push the Worry Cloud away with the joyous light beams of positive thinking. Arabella unlocks happy memories with her family, visualising wonderful times with them and it gives her confidence to face the Worry Cloud head on, so it can go away and leave her in peace.
So many children will have their own version of the Worry Cloud.
(image: Shelley the Artist/ E Segall)
Read the full blog here about how my experiences informed me writing Arabella and how it can help you:
https://thoughtsonlifeandlove.com/why-i-wrote…/95242/
Arabella and the Worry Cloud is out now on Amazon, for 4-8 year olds.
(image: Patrick Perkins, Unsplash)
So many aspects of life can impact your mental and physical health and overall wellbeing. In this blog, we will be focusing on relationship stress, seasonal changes and our homes and how they can impact our wellness.
Your Relationship
Your relationship is one of the things that can impact your health the most. Of course it has the ability to impact your mental health, though we’re also talking about the physical side of things. This is especially apparent if your relationship is full of stress and causing you to struggle mentally. Stress from relationships can trigger skin conditions such as acne and break outs. It can be a reaction that your body is having, to tell you that it needs to slow down and heal.
Relationship troubles can lead to arguments and isolation and cause emotional difficulties. If you’re worried that your relationship is not good for your health, try talking to your partner calmly and in a safe environment. If this is not possible, reach out to a therapist or support network too.
The Season
Time of the year has a huge effect on our mental health, the season changes everything. In the fall (autumn) and the winter it’s far more common for people to be ill with depression due to the weather, than it is in the summer months. People also become more physically unwell too. This could be for a number of reasons, but it’s partially because people’s immune systems are weaker when it’s colder outside.
So, if you notice that you are getting poorly, that your joints are hurting, that you’re generally feeling unwell, it could be because of the colder weather and season.
Your Home
Your home doesn’t mean to harm you, but sometimes a build up of dust or toxic material, a leaking roof or something else can really cause you problems you can’t avoid. You can try cleaning, making repairs, and even throwing out old furniture and replacing it with new pieces. Oak dining chairs and tables are in fashion right now, so why not consider it?
At the end of the day, there are so many different things that can impact your health and you have to be ready for all of them. It’s important that you remain vigilant, and if something seems to be causing you any issues with your health, you have to work on it asap and reach out for support from your doctor.
This article was written by a freelance writer.
(image: Christmas For CAMHS)
A few years ago, I was delighted to discover this incredible charity- Christmas for CAMHS through a post by its founder Ro Bevan. This charity means a lot to me because 20 years ago this festive season, I was a very unwell 16 year old on a NHS child and adolescent (CAMHS) in patient psychiatric ward in the Priory North London, struggling with a bipolar mixed episode. I had psychosis and hadn’t yet been diagnosed with bipolar. Although I am Jewish and don’t celebrate Christmas, I remember that the ward gave us small presents and that other children/adolescents wrote me lovely messages of kindness and hope wrapped up in seasons greetings. Being away from home and especially during the festive season is filled with loneliness and sadness, especially if you are in hospital. In 2004, Christmas for CAMHS did not exist but their work now is vital.
So who are this amazing charity?
Christmas for CAMHS is a small charity who gives gifts and goodies to children and young people in hospital for their mental health over the festive season. This is our 9th year of giving gifts to young people in CAMHS (children and adolescent mental health services) inpatient units across the UK and this year we’re giving over 1300 gifts!
Christmas For CAMHS was originally set up because Dr Ro Bevan saw a huge disparity in the way CAMHS units were treated over the festive period compared to other NHS services for children and young people.
In 2015 Ro was working in a children’s hospital for those with a physical illness. That Christmas the children’s hospital had tons of presents donated, mostly from corporate donors – so many presents that there was enough leftover for patients’ birthdays until June of the following year! A year later, she was working in child and adolescent mental health and, in stark contrast, they had no presents donated at all. The patients had one present each, chosen by the therapy team and paid for by the ward – scrimped and saved from the NHS budget that is meant to cover therapeutic activities and other expenses.
Ro posted about the inequality on Facebook and before she knew it, her post had gone viral with 1,032 shares and so many supportive comments. It inspired her to start Christmas For CAMHS the following year to support these children and young people who would otherwise be forgotten by the generous public.
When the charity first began in 2016, they set up a simple fundraiser online which raised £1000 and managed to send around 300 gifts to young people in units that year. Since then, they have grown to be able to reach every CAMHS unit in the UK, but still work in a pretty similar way! There is the online fundraising page running each year where people donate either as individuals or on behalf of fundraisers they have run in their local community or with work colleagues. Additionally, there are corporate donations and people setting up their own fundraising pages to do amazing challenges to raise money (a couple of years ago one fundraiser ran a marathon around a Christmas tree!).
There is also a wish list where people can donate specific chosen gifts for children who may be feeling very alone.
(image: Christmas For CAMHS)
The charity reaches out to every CAMHS unit in the UK to ask the staff that work there how many young people they might have over Christmas. They also ask them what they think their young people might like, picking from a list of tried and tested categories, and the age range of their young people. The elves then work night and day to ensure that gifts are bought that align with what each CAMHS unit has requested and that are safe for young people in hospital for their mental health to be given.
Once the gifts have arrived there is a major ‘packing weekend, in Bath. During this, volunteers come and help pack up massive boxes with all the assigned gifts, some Christmas decorations, some activities (such as colour in paper chains or blank cards), a Wellbeing Advent Calendar, some fidget toys and an extra ‘ward gift’ for each ward to enjoy together. We don’t wrap the gifts, so the wards can check them, but we do provide wrapping paper and sticky gift tags. We also provide a bigger gift, when requested, for young people on the wards who may not receive a gift from anyone else this Christmas, such as young people who have no family support. The gifts then get delivered to each CAMHS ward ahead of Christmas day.
This year, the charity is also sending wards some paper chain ‘strips’ with cheesy cracker jokes written on them, made by members of the public and assembled by young people on the wards, providing a tangible reminder that we are all still connected despite what the young people are going through. Young people loved these last year.
It is always so nice to receive messages from young people about the gifts that they’ve given. A young person recently told the charity:
“The gift made me smile so much. I’d had such a bad day and it was an utterly terrifying time in my life – I was about to turn 18 and had never felt more alone. It was so weird but lovely to think that people who didn’t know me cared enough to make me and my friends feel special and connected. You really do such an amazing job. You’re so kind, thank you.”
The whole team and all donors are thinking of every child and young person who will be spending the Christmas period in hospital due to their mental health, which is exactly why Christmas at CAMHS does what it does – we want them to know that we’re thinking of them and that lots and lots of people are holding them in their hearts.
To donate to Christmas for CAMHS:
Making Christmas Magic for Young People in CAMHS Units (2024)
or text CAMHSGIFT followed by your donation amount to 70470 to give that amount (e.g. CAMHSGIFT10).
For the rest of Christmas for CAMHS links:
beurownlight.com 