Our beloved Philip Schofield has just hosted another raucous British Soap Awards and the usual best dressed / worst dressed nonsense has hit the headlines again. But the soaps do a lot more for us than generating gossip on the cobbles, leaving us hanging with duff-duffer moments and making us gasp for breath as something … Continue reading Soap fan and proud: Why TV soaps have a crucial role in education
If you haven’t experienced anxiety as an illness, please read this
This was originally a thread I posted on Twitter one night about the reality of anxiety as an illness (hence the strange snippet like style!) Feel free to read on Twitter via the link if you prefer 🙂 I don't know what a heart attack feels like. But I've had palpitations. I don't know … Continue reading If you haven’t experienced anxiety as an illness, please read this
What I wish I could tell my teenage self about sex and masturbation
Strange isn't it, that as a child, you thought about nakedness and body parts and how babies were made constantly and yet never felt guilty about it. As soon as you related those thoughts and feelings to the word 'sex', they become deeply shameful. What a fucker. Just as you're finding out how to operate … Continue reading What I wish I could tell my teenage self about sex and masturbation
A letter to my 16 year old self…
I recently read a piece in Happiful magazine where Denise Welch wrote a letter to her 16 year old self. That had to be an interesting exercise, Denise certainly thought so. So, here's my letter to me, aged 16, from me, aged 40. Dear Lucy, You probably won't believe this right now, as you sit … Continue reading A letter to my 16 year old self…
How to talk to someone who is hearing voices
This is an article I wrote for Metro but I thought it also needed special mention in a blog post here....because it's an area of mental health that is incredibly stigmatised in many ways. And we must talk about it more. People who hear voices are not always frightened, and neither should you be. But … Continue reading How to talk to someone who is hearing voices
A step by step guide to the beer fear
(in a nostalgic setting...because...why not) It's 2001. You're off on a night out. You've slipped your cheap heels on, the fake tan is positively glowing and your handbag's packed with Marlboro menthols (cos you want to smoke the night away but you're hoping for a cheeky snog). You're all set - and so is your … Continue reading A step by step guide to the beer fear
Anxiety – it aint what you think it’s the way that you think it
You rock up to your new therapist's office, settle into your new regular perch for weekly outpourings of angst and believe that this time, THIS TIME, you'll kick anxiety's butt once and for all... Then your therapist says... "We're not going to try to get rid of your anxiety completely...that's a tall order" What!? "You'll … Continue reading Anxiety – it aint what you think it’s the way that you think it
