Hi everyone! This year I'm doing a series of posts about mental health at Christmas. This week's post is about tackling loneliness at this time of year, and why that's both hard and important.

This week on the blog I'm musing about motivation. Join me after the cut to think about how to motivate yourself when you feel like your mojo is missing.

This blog is a year old in December! To celebrate, I'm having a look back over my old blog posts, to see if anything has changed for me over the last year.

Bit of a ranty blog post this week, based on some things I've been reading on social media and general societal beliefs. Warning for discussions of terminal illness and death behind the cut, as well as why I don't think you can fight your way to wellness.

Apologies if you're a parent looking to shush an unruly child; this isn't the post for you! Instead, I'm looking at quietening your mind in a world full of loud and colourful distractions. Read on to learn how to be quiet.

I love Halloween! It's my favourite time of year, partly because of the whole ambience of it all and partly because I'm a bit of a goth at heart. I got rid of a lot of the outward signs of this when I started to work in the NHS (purple hair and New Rock boots are generally frowned upon in clinic), but my headphones are usually blasting something dark and melancholy. This week, after my 1975 post, another fun blog post showcasing some of my favourite goth-y bands and their lyrics!

Have you been thinking about therapy? If so, this is the blog post for you - three reasons that I think it would be good for everyone to try it, and two reasons that you absolutely shouldn't.

My best friend is a great guy. I've written about him before, and when I told him I was starting a blog I asked him for ideas. One of the things he came back to me with was "how can I identify people who are struggling and what can I do to help?" This post is for him, and for those of you out there who might not struggle with your mental health but know someone who does.

It's October! The nights are drawing in, it's getting cooler and darker on a morning, and pumpkin spice-flavoured items are literally everywhere. Love it or hate it, you might need a little extra help to manage your mental health in autumn - here's a blog post to make sure you get it.

My previous post explaining chronic pain (and my post about how to manage it) were quite popular, so this week I'm bringing you more of my reflections on working with people who are struggling with chronic pain.