Voicing Shadow, Singing Light’ is a blog series designed to tear down barriers of silence that perpetuate suffering from mental illness and deadly last resorts. In August I put a call out on Facebook and Twitter requesting poems that articulate some aspect of mental illness – whether as sufferer, survivor, carer or friend. The response has been overwhelming – hundreds of poems flooded into my inbox over a short period, compelling me to rethink my original plan of a two-part blog series into something larger. Over the next week I will post one blog each day featuring some of the finest poems I have ever read about mental illness. I hope you enjoy them, and pass them on as you see fit. At the bottom of each post is a number of links to the Mental Health Foundation and the World Health Organization’s online resources for Mental Health. Should you wish to begin speaking out right now, there is an opportunity to leave your own responses in the comments box below.
STEPHANIE ARSOSKA
https://soundcloud.com/stephanie-arsoska/mr-anxiety
RESOURCES FOR MENTAL HEALTH:
WHO Mental Health
Dealing with depression
Depression support groups
What is mindfulness?
Guided meditation
Mental Health Foundation
Apps for mindfulness
Rhys Bevan Jones is the artist of the images used in this blog. Many thanks to Rhys for allowing me to use them.