MS: Many Strengths and Magnificently Strong
Becky talks about the impact a recent diagnosis has had on her life, how it will affect her physical and mental health, and what she’s planning on doing to look after herself. The sentence, “I can confirm we are working with a diagnosis of MS,” feels like a life sentence. Being diagnosed with... Read More
A statement on recent racist abuse
From Operations director Richard Barber. At LSLCS we are becoming aware of what feels like an increase in racism towards our staff team. Over the years, it’s felt that some visitors and callers to our services deliberately avoid having support with workers from minority ethnic groups; however, this issue now feels even more problematic as... Read More
PD or Not PD? Notes on our partnership
Ops director Richard talks about our partnership with the Leeds PD Network, providing some clarity and addressing the conflict between our anti-PD and survivor-led ethos, and a service that has a label we disagree with in its very name. It’s a topic that can bring up a lot of difficult feelings and we want to... Read More
Connecting and not connecting with nature: Mental Health Awareness Week 2021
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week and the theme this year is Nature. Communications and Connect Helpline Worker Tom writes about some of the trials of trying to connect with nature. The Mental Health Foundation’s website is a good place to read about nature and mental health and why it’s been chosen as the theme... Read More
From Silence to Singing
Elizabeth Shane writes about her journey, as a survivor of abuse, to being able to express herself through creative outlets, through to getting a book of poetry published so she can hopefully help others to feel less alone with their struggles and their pain. CW: discussions/mentions of childhood sexual abuse For so long I... Read More
Colonial Contradictions
Muhammed has written about Britain’s colonial legacy with regards to LGBT+ discrimination. This was originally written for LGBT+ History Month as a reflection of LGBT+ History and the issues that we still face in the world today. This blog post draws from my research, personal experiences and interests from both my undergraduate and master’s, where... Read More
Stress Stalks Unseen: Stress Awareness Month
By Tom Dent-Spargo, Comms Worker and Connect Helpline Worker. It’s Stress Awareness Month so I thought I’d share my own recent experience with that particular fiend. It can strike us all, from such varying factors; mine came from a menagerie of sources in my personal life and I had to take action when it threatened... Read More
My Year of Isolation
One of our visitors Anne has reflected on the difficulties she’s faced this past year, particularly how she has struggled with accessing support remotely. When I’m in the same room as someone face-to-face I feel relaxed and safe and I feel more like the sort of person I used to feel like before the... Read More