Mental Health Awareness Week ’23: Lizzy at Teen Connect
For Mental Health Awareness Week 2023, we’re sharing thoughts, experiences, and strategies from the team across our different services on anxiety, the focus of MHAW this year. Lizzy at Teen Connect I supported a young person who spoke about being so anxious after watching scary content on YouTube that they could see the scary characters... Read More
Part of the family, a look at Dial House @Touchstone
Seetal’s a student and a volunteer on the Connect Helpline, and she has also been helping out at Dial House @Touchstone, our service for people from culturally diverse communities. Here, she talks about her experiences so far and the value of the support and social space offered. I’m Seetal, a volunteer worker here at LSLCS... Read More
Behind the Mask
Elizabeth Shane has written a new poetry book and has kindly contributed the poem Truth Seeker for the LSLCS blog. Elizabeth uses poetry as a way of communicating her lived experience and confronting these difficult topics. I am actively raising awareness of the impact of child sexual abuse into adulthood through my new poetry book... Read More
International Women’s Day 2023: Sisterhood
Today is International Women’s Day, and the Sisterhood group for women and non-binary folk from marginalised backgrounds have contributed a poem to mark the event. Sisterhood is love, food and laughter, Women supporting women and not bringing each other down, Smile empower each other with positive support. 😊 We have to make assessments but not... Read More
Strength from community
By Lulu – Comms Worker and LGBT+ and Trans & Non-binary Group Worker. CW: discussion of homophobia, transphobia and violence It’s been a tough time to be LGBT+ lately. There is a general backdrop of a rise in homophobia and transphobia these past few years, the FIFA men’s world cup is currently taking place in... Read More
Engagement in the Community
Community is so important in overcoming and removing barriers in life. At LSLCS we strive to improve community engagement with services like Dial House at Touchstone and our groups that have a specific focus like the LGBT+ group and the Deaf group. Having shared voices reduces that sense of loneliness or isolation, builds better links... Read More
Rainbow of Promise
Rainbow of Promise is Elizabeth’s second collection of poems, following the aftermath of speaking out about her experience of familial sexual abuse in her first poetry book. It links past trauma with present difficulties, finding ways to overcome the resulting anxiety, mental health issues and intrusive memories when dealing with her everyday life, that can... Read More
The impact of self-neglect
Anne has written about her struggles with self-neglect, how that has impacted on her life, and where this obstacle comes from. CW: Discussion of abuse and trauma. The impact of self-neglect. Hi my name is Anne. I’ve got complex post-traumatic stress disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, and depression. I struggle with dissociation, flashbacks,... Read More