Lived Experience Blog
Gaslighting is a form of psychological and emotional abuse that causes victims to doubt and question their own judgement, reality, self-perception and sometimes their sanity. Gas-lighters twist and distort the truth in order to manipulate, confuse and control their victims. The term…
A Positive Start
Saturday morning, its 6am and the sun is streaming through the crack in the curtains. With a hot cup of black coffee in hand, I sit down at my computer in my home-office (aka spare bedroom), as is my usual routine. I’m fully intent on mapping out my explanations of why the Funding providers…
S.T.A.N.D© is an acronym for Stop, Think, Act, Never Doubt – A trauma informed response to be applied in situations when an individual may be triggered by the behaviours of others. Developed in 2014 for Adverse Childhood Experience’s trauma support, S.T.A.N.D©…
Lifting The Mask of Persona
Narcissistic Traits Increasingly, the term; ‘Parental Narcissistic Traits‘ is being used to describe the childhood experience of a generation of adults brought-up in a strict and controlling, often toxic, sometimes religious environment. Now adults; many of these children are seeking…
Religion and Spirituality
Religion and Spirituality Just the mention of the word 'God', has been enough in years gone by, to make me want to turn away, to switch off and roll my eyes knowingly. The words "oh, here we go - more preaching" echoing in my mind. From as far back as I can remember, I have been aware of God. God…
A Message To The Confrontational
Don't ever stop, standing up for yourself! Being a confrontational person is not a bad thing. In fact, in a world where our rights, our opinions and our way of life are constantly under scrutiny by those around us, it is a gift to be able to stand up and say your piece without worrying about the…
Know Thy Self
The beliefs that we hold about ourselves shape our choices and our lives. The meaning we apply to the behaviours of others as children, often shapes our beliefs about ourselves. We are said do have accepted our conditioned thinking by the time we reach the tender of age of three years old. If I…
The Truth About Healing
To be absolutely honest, its messy, emotional, overwhelming and exhausting. But with that comes the most amazing feeling of mental and emotional freedom when you can finally break away from the chains that have been holding you back in your own mind. The limiting beliefs you have had about yourself…
What if?......Why not?...
It's all too easy to let our trauma consume us. It's not something we automatically want to do but for some.....many.... there is seemingly nothing else to focus on to keep us motivated. In my own experience, it was the positive feedback i got from outsiders, teachers, bosses, colleagues,…
A Lesson in Respect
I grew up in the 80s in a mining community in Yorkshire. I played the cornet in the local colliery band. I marched with the Miners when they returned to work defeated, exhausted and broken. I remember the horrors of the miners strike; seeing grown men who I knew, from our village being…