The times I have spoken to a service provider to hear, what garentee do we have that you will be around in 3 months, 6 months time? Your not a registered company...

Becoming a registered company has two effects for me, it indicates that Im serious about the work im doing, sharing information between services and the public, that Im not going away any time soon, and, it is a step further to getting funding for the work im doing. Im not doing this website, communicating between services and public for money, but on the other hand, transport to the meetings, website, phone, internet access, insurance, they all cost money, money I dont really have, so becoming a CIC will bring me a step closer to being able to apply for funding to cover these costs. In the last 7, no, 4 days, I have traveled over 45 miles to events, meetings and conferences, which is around £12 to £15 in fuel alone.

Some people have indicated that im only befriending them, in order to get "donations" for the website. The website is free to use, free to advertise services and events. There are only two reasons a service or event is not listed, 1 is the service or event is not free to use, 2, no one has told me, or added the service or event to the website. As long as it is free for people to attend, even if there is an area restriction, it can be listed on the website as long as it is Mental Health or Wellbeing related.

If you would like to donate, to towards costs of keeping the site running, cards to give out to people at events, I continue attending events and passing out cards, then please get in contact. But your access to the website does not depend on if you donated or not.

This week has been, for want of a better description, eye opening, and humbling. The thought of the week, after attending the Spear London event, the Emergency Paramedics Mental Health and wellness conference, The Eating disorder Conference, the lack of communication is incredable.

So. We need to talk.

Being apart of the audience, the on looker, knowing that at any time, my mental health may suffer and I will need any one of the services Im singposting to, can be an overwhelming feeling. But, what im seeing is people know these services are availble but are waiting until they are at crisis point before they reach out for help.

We all look around us and see other people in same situations, appearing to be able to cope with simular situations, so why not me, why arent i good enough, why am i finding it difficult to cope? where in reallity, they are looking at you, thinking how strong you are, you can deal with these things and carry on, how do you cope so easily.

So why arent we talking to people? neighbours, friends, families? Is it embarrassment? Are you supposed to be the provider, the strong person in the family? Is what your going through nothing to do with anybody else? You dont want to feel a burden? Think about this for a moment. What one situation are you going through, which is unique, that no one else is going through, that no one else has a story to tell about how they managed this situation, how they got through the day? This week, I have heard nearly every phrase, why we dont talk to people, yet, the time we need support from others is nearly always the time we start to withdraw, stop talking to people, stop going out.

Join a walk and talk group, or a support group. you dont have to talk, you can just listen. I will say, it is likely, your story is simular to somebody elses, and what you have found to help, will help other people. so give it a go. what have you to lose? but, more importantly, you will gain confidence, knowledge, knowing that you are not alone, that there are people out there going through what you are going through, and surviving it.

in one of the conferences, a person asked, In the USA, most people talk to a Therapist, before they are at crisis point, why dont we do that here. Somebody responded, saying that its a misconception made up by the film companies. But, what if, it wasnt. why isnt it reality? my first thought is, cost, but as listed locally in Sutton, there are free counciling / Therapy, so, its down to you. do you want to safeguard your mental health, or hope there is someone there who wont take 'im ok' as a real responce to 'are you ok' at the time, your not.

Its amazing, how events occur, starting with an idea which came from attending an appointment to see the Drs, to going to a Recovery College, to finding out about Sutton Mental Health Foundation, being introduced to Sutton Nightwatch, and now, Sutton Nightwatch introduced me to SpearLondon, where I am now attending one of their events, with a laptop, a Tablet and 100 postcards, talking to other Service providers and Service users, telling them about the website, demonstrating how it works.

Hearing how amazing the website is, how it can be used, even the Job center advisor took some postcards to put up on their board in the office for service users to check out.

Im really looking forwards to making this in to a Community interest company, which will help with people wanting or not wanting to use or display information about the website.

Thanks Sutton Nightwatch for the introduction to SpearLondon.

After getting on the bus, having it cancelled mid way through the journey, not once, but 3 times, I eventually arrived at SouthWest london and St Georges Mental Health Trust's Springfield Hospital. Then misreading the location, I stood outside the trining room for a good 5 -8 minutes before confirming where I should be and then joining the Mental Health First Aid England's Champion course.

The course was ran by Clive, from MHFA England, whos aim is to make 1 in 10 people Mental Health aware, and currently he indicated its at 1 in 40, so they have made a huge impact and progress in this plan.

The course was really interesting, although it reviewed the manual briefley, what we went over was in depth, giving a whole new understanding of how to look for Mental Health distress and then how to manage it and sign post approprately.

Meeting and talking to the other students, was an eye opener. I made a comment, which was intended to be humourious but in hindsight, it only highlighted how a throwaway comment could be taken as being judgemental (its ok, we are now Linkedin friends with a view to enhance the website further). Other than that, which I felt so guilty and sorry about, the whole group really connected and shared information which made the course even more informative and, useful.

So, watch this space, as the website is going to get even more informative.

This week again as been exciting. Meeting councillor Bobby Dean led me to talk to 2 Mental Health companies, asking if they would endorse this website. With endorsement, it makes this venture more official, making it a viable service to offer to other services to get the message out there.

While writing the emails, I came up with an idea, a QR sticker, which could be placed in the first aid cabinet or on the Fridge, which, when scanned / photoed, would open the website, showing local services. Placing in the cabinet or on the fridge means, it is available at the times you may need it most. What are your thoughts? let me know. Sorry its a short update, and with that, have a good weekend. If you dont, I trust you know where you can find the support you need.

Again, a busy week. New people to chase, new sites to add. Would you believe Im getting hits from all over the world, im just so sorry I cant cater for everywhere, as the Mental health conditions experianced here, are, and will be the same as across the world, just I dont have the access, or time to add everywhere just yet. I received an email back from South West London And St Georges Mental Health Trust, Vanessa Ford. Her email was very encurraging and she has put me in contact with the Director of Communications and Engagement. That is going to be some exciting meeting.

To think, the mission for this site, was to list all Recovery Colleges around the UK, along with their courses. Today, it lists all the Recovery Colleges around the UK, Plus, the National Mental Health services, and local Crisis Cafe's, Local Mental Health Drop-in and wellness Hubs. What does the future hold. Well, I have an investor ready to jump onboard as soon as I'm ready. I want the site to list services for carers and expand on the Crisis Cafe's and Drop-ins.

From what it was in the begining of January, to a functional, click to call service, it is today, im amazed how quickly it has progressed. It is all thanks to you, the people who are looking at this page, reading this text, thinking what is going to happen next. Do you click on the Samaritans button and have a conversation with them? That is what they are there for, if you are feeling lonely, feeling slightly low, or just want a chat to someone, to voice out an idea. Many moons ago, I use to talk to a friend, she ran her own computer company. She use to voice her problems to me and by the time she had finished, she had already come up with the solution. I did the same, when I went to councilling, by the time i had explained what was going on, I already had the solution in mind. They could never understand why I went...

Isnt it funny how you start talking about one thing, and end up talking about something completely unrelated. So, im going to leave it there for this update, and wish you a good week ahead. Just keep watching, you never know where this is going

Today has been exciting. To the extent, after discussions with the recovery college at Springfield hospital, the comms team have published a link to this site on the SouthWest London and St Georges Mental Health Trust intranet site. This means, all the employees of the Trust have now been given a link to this site. The posibilities are that they will now use the site to find services, and signpost clients to the site.

Speaking to the Mental Health Practitioner at the Sutton Mental Health Foundation, within moments of seeing the site, she could see the benifits and indicated that she will push for this to go national with her managers and bosses.

The potential is mind blowing. Really exciting times. Now I have to develop a method to allow people to add venues to this site.

So, here I am, 11:16pm, looking at the scripts, creating a method to add venues. I have already had someone approach me, with a posibility of being an invester, and another person down in Poole offering to perform data entry for me.

It is hard to believe, this is all posible due to you, the people who have donated to the idea of this site. It is ... overwhelming ...

I thank you.

Christmas day. For some people its the best day ever, watching their children enjoying their gifts, watching TV after over eating.

but to so many, its the worst day, lonelyness, nowhere is open, their usual go to places are shut, families are too busy to see you.

I had hoped that I would have had a number of locations which are open for people to attend, so they dont feel so alone. Somewhere they felt included, somewhere they could talk to somone who wanted to listen, but life got in the way and I havent been able to update the site as much as I want. So, I'm going to make some changes to anybody can add Mental Health Drop-in's and Crisis Cafe's.

It is so easy to look outside and see people moving about, and assume they are too busy to talk, to take time to connect. The currage to take that first step and make contact, make that connection we all need is, is very hard. We have many reasons not to take that step, that jump. Where as we only need one reason to do it. And that is, for us.

They may be too busy, they may not have the time, and you will never know, unless you take that step, assume that they dont have time for you. Someone told me a long time ago, Assume does only one thing. It makes an ASS out of U and ME -- ASS U ME

Where ever you are, I trust you had an ok day.

Thought of the day.

Why do you do what you do?
I think we all follow a determined route. In the end, we have all got the same outcome. How we get there can be different, but the final outcome is the same.

What ever you do, where ever you go, nothing you can do will change the outcome. This is also the same for the person next to you, and the person next to them.

With this thought, what is the benifit of becoming angry, or upset, or annoyed?
Most of the time, we become angry about a problem, then we get angry at others because they arent as angry as we are about this problem.
It is important to understand, this is from their point of view, we can not control the way people see subjects, or even us. That is their own perception of us, their own ideas on how we should be, what we should be doing. But we have our own ideas how we should be, what we should wear, where we should go and be.

Because we can not control what others think, because we are unable to control them, it goes the other way too, they can not control our thoughts about them.
My perspective on this is, what ever they say to me, is a suggestion, and will only be a suggestion, what ever the subject is.
That means, I can listen to their suggestion, and I have the power to either reject their suggestion, or accept their suggestion and act on it.

So, if somebody is angry, its not at me, or even consern me. They can voice what they are angry about, and I will to my best ability, try to provide an alternitive view point on the subject. But the anger they are feeling is only a feeling they feel. It may be shared with others, meaning other people may be angry about the same subject, but it will always be unique to them. the situation causing the anger will be different with everybody. Even the weather will influance the way people feel about a subject.

The solution is, accept that people will have different opinions to you. Even if it seems to be the same. What ever caused them to feel that way will never be the same way you view the same subject. Even if the peceived outcome appears to be the same.

Talk, listen, understand, and their view point may result in a changed opinion, changed thought, less anger and less stress.