Blogging 201; Day Eight: Make Your Blog a Hub

Posted on by Gertie

Happy Autumn!!! Today is not only first day of Autumn but the eighth day of Blogging 201. It seems that the assignment I did for today in regards to Blogging 201 disappeared. That means I am redoing it which is annoying as hell.

Todays assignment wants us to do a page to add to our blog in regards to our online presence. For me, I am happy with the presence I have. I am happy with the presence I have since my main goals of my blog are to be an example of what recovery looks like and to educate others to help lessen the stigma that goes to having a mental illness. At the moment my presence on social media is enough.

There is one part I am not happy with in regards to my presence is the amount of followers I have and that is one of the reasons why I have decided to do Blogging 201. Like I said earlier and will reiterate is that the primary goals of my blog is to educate others and be an example of what recovery looks like. I realize that the amount of followers shouldn’t matter but it does matter. It matters because EVERYONE is effected by mental illness in one way another weather they want to admit it or not.

Have a wonderful day. Enjoy the first day of Autumn!! Peace Out!!!

Writing 101: Finding Your Inspiration; Day 12: Play With Word Count

Posted on by Gertie

An Untitled Poem

(For now)

by Gertie

You don’t look like me.

You don’t act like me.

You may have a mental illness like me

but why should

our recovery look the same.

Its not one size fits all.

We are different;

so is our road to recovery.

Don’t judge mine.

Blogging 201; Day Seven: Make the Most of Events

Posted on by Gertie

Today is the seventh day of Blogging 201. For todays assignment we are suppose to make the most of blogging events. In fact I have been thinking a great deal about doing a blogging event since I took Blogging 101 back in July of this year. I want to start one but not sure if I want it to be a regular on going event or an event that only last one or two times. I also don’t know what type of event I want to hold. It is something that I will figure out and when I do, I will inform you my reader know. If you have any ideas on what type of event you would like to be part of please let me know in the comment section of this post.

Thank you for taking your time in reading my blog. It is much appreciated. Have a wonderful day. Peace out!!!

Daily Prompt: We Got The Beat

Posted on by Gertie

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “We Got the Beat.” Have you ever played in a band? Tell us all about that experience of making music with friends. If you’ve never been in a band, imagine you’re forming a band with some good friends. What instrument do you play in the band and why? What sort of music will you play?

In fact I have been in a band. I was in marching band as well as concert band in junior high and high school. I played the flute throughout my school years. My years in the school band were quite positive and therapeutic for me.

Being in the school band not only kept from dropping out but helped me with much need social interactions with others in my own peer group. I tended to have friends much older than me so band greatly helped me with making friends my own age. Being able to make music with others was (and is) an amazing experience. Being able to hear how a particular piece can come together gives a sense of accomplishment that other things can not do.

It is that sense of accomplishment that helped me make friends as well as stay as relatively “normal” as possible. Playing a musical instrument helped my mental health symptoms a great deal. Being able to focus on something other than the urges to harm myself. Playing the flute was quite therapeutic for me throughout junior high and high school. In fact it still is.

Now that I am an adult, I still play on occasion. I also am teaching myself to play the harmonica. There is something to be said about playing a musical instrument especially with other people. I am still close friends with many of the people I was in school band with. Once a band buddy  always a band buddy.

Now that I’ve bored you, it is time for me to get ready for work. I will be doing my Blogging 201 assignment on my lunch and my Writing 101 assignment when I get home from work. Have a wonderful last day of summer. Peace Out!!!!

Writing 101: Finding Your Inspiration; Day Eleven: Writing and Not Writing

Posted on by Gertie

Todays, Writing 101 assignment is what I basically do when I am not writing or what I do in my “day-to-day” life. To tell you the truth, my day-to-day life is pretty boring.

Like most everyone else in the world, I work. I work at a mental health agency part time as a Consumer Aide. I also volunteer at two different places; one is a peer run Warm Line (which is a conversational line) and the other is at young adult (18-25) homeless shelter. I spend a lot of time with my fiancé, Junior. I tend to hang out with friends as our schedules allow. I attend sporting events and concerts. I also read.  Most importantly I make sure that I do what I need to do to stay in recovery.

For me recovery is the biggest and most important thing I can do to keep myself balanced. My recovery is a one day at time thing and sometimes a one moment at a time thing. To stay in recovery, I eat on the regular basis, take my meds, exercise, see my therapist regularly, see my psychiatric nurse practitioner regularly and just have fun.

Now that you know how I keep a balanced life outside of writing/blogging, I am going to go spend some much needed time with Junior. We are going to have some cuddle time. Have a wonderful evening. Peace Out!!!

Blogging 201; Day Six: Dig Deep into a Social Network

Posted on by Gertie

It is day six of Blogging 201. If I understand the assignment correctly, it is asking to broaden our brand by adding social media sites. I’m already on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I thought about doing a Facebook page for my blog but since I have a separate account for my blog I have decided against it at the moment. I just don’t have the time or energy to do so at the moment. When I have more time I will reconsider the idea. It’s not just about the time or energy, it is also about the drama that seems to go on when it comes to Facebook and Twitter, especially Facebook. I haven’t experienced drama on LinkedIn or WordPress and that is a good thing. I’m not big into drama.

With all that being said, my lunch is almost over. I hope you all continue to have a wonderful Monday. Enjoy your work week. Peace Out!!!!

Weekly Goals

Posted on by Gertie

Happy Monday!!! It’s the start of another work week and as always am looking forward to it. This past week I had a number of goals to accomplish. Like always I will share with you how I did with accomplishing them, then share with you this weeks goals. This how did with last weeks goals.

1)  Read Speaker of the Dead by Orson Scott Card. Yes, I did read this week. It was a much need escape from all the difficult work with therapy and trainings I did.

2)  Work on jigsaw puzzle.  I spent time on the puzzle. It was another positive way to do self-care and escape.

3)  Color. I did a great deal of coloring. I colored for the same reasons I read and worked on the jigsaw puzzle.

4)  Writing 101: Finding Your Inspiration. Most definitely accomplished this goal. I do have to say Day Nine’s assignment was quite difficult for me. I am enjoying the course immensely.

5)  Start Blogging 201: Branding and Growth. Yup, I started Blogging 201. Like I expected, I am enjoying it. Cant wait to see what I learn this next week.

6)  Attend Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST). I really enjoyed attending the training. It was an intense and tough training to attend but well worth being able to attend.

7)  Work on a self-help workbook; The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook by Matthew McKay, PhD., Jeffery C. Wood, PSY.D., and Jeffrey Brantley, MD. This goal was extremely helpful this week. It helped me remember all this DBT skills I learned in the past and am relearning doing this workbook.

8)  See my psychiatric ARNP today. Yes, I saw my psychiatric nurse practitioner. We discussed how Autumn and Winter are difficult on me in regards to my depression and how we can make sure I don’t need an increase in my anti-depressant unless needed.

9)  See my therapist, Diana, on Friday. Yes, I did see Diana. We discussed how the ASIST training was triggering as well as some intense trauma history stuff. As difficult as it was discussing some of my trauma history with Diana, I felt a sense of relief talking about it. (SIDE NOTE: Diana is a pseudonym for my therapist. It is for the protection of her past, current and future clients as well for her privacy.)

I am really proud of myself for accomplishing my weekly goals for last week. They wear extremely difficult to do, due to not having much time or being emotionally difficult and draining to do them. Now on to this weeks goals.

1)  Read Speaker of the Dead by Orson Scott Card. This is a no brainer. Hopefully, I will be finished with the book soon.

2)  Work on jigsaw puzzle. Another no brainer goal. This particular jigsaw puzzle is 1500 pieces, so it will take some time to finish it.

3)  Color. For me coloring helps me a great deal. It allows me to connect with my inner child.

4)  Writing 101: Finding Your Inspiration. I am really enjoying this course. This course is helping find inspiration in everyday things to blog about.

5)  Blogging 201: Branding and Growth. I am grateful for what I am learning through Blogging 201. It’s hard to believe this is the last week of the two week course. I wish it was longer.

6)  Work on a self-help workbook; The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook by Matthew McKay, PhD., Jeffery C. Wood, PSY.D., and Jeffrey Brantley, MD. As you can tell this is going to be my goal for a while. This will be goal of mine till I am finished the workbook.

My goals for this next week are being kept simple since last weeks goals were emotionally draining. I need to get ready for work but before I go, I want to give a shout out to: http://greenembe.rs/2015/09/21/building-rome-week-38-for-2015/ because I am a part of his weekly blogging event. Have a wonderful work week. Peace out!!

Brief Check-In

Posted on by Gertie

I am just doing a brief check-in with you my reader. I had somewhat of a difficult week for a multitude of reasons. Those reasons were not a shock to me because I suspected to was going to be a difficult week.

I knew it was going to be a difficult week because of all the events I was involved with. I saw my psychiatric nurse practitioner, worked, attended a baseball game that I was paid for attending because I and a co-worker took clients, attended the ASIST training, saw my therapist and volunteered at the Warm Line last night. That is why I am taking today to myself.

I am doing good self-care. I am making sure I eat and take my meds. I have been coloring most of the day. I have even spent some time with a friend. I could use some cuddle time with Junior but he is working at the moment. Taking care of myself is what is needed for continued recovery.

Thank you for reading. Have wonderful day. Enjoy the rest of you weekend. Peace Out!!!

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)

Posted on by Gertie

As many of you are aware of, this past week I took a training on suicide prevention. It was an intensive training that took a great deal out of me. I not only learned a great deal but a lot of the training happened to reiterate knowledge that I already had in regards to suicide prevention. Below is just a sliver of the notes I took in the training:

  • Ask directly.
  • Notice the settle stuff. (ex. tone of voice, body language and specific wording.)
  • No attempt of intervention is perfect.
  • Suicide is ultimately a choice (even if its not the desired choice).
  • It’s their journey not our (the person doing the intervention) journey.
  • Suicide is everyone’s business.
  • Listen to what the person has to say.
  • The person who is suicidal has to be a participant in helping themselves.
  • Set boundaries and limitations if nesasary.
  • Don’t hesitate to seek help with the intervention if it is needed.
  • Don’t beat around the bush.
  • First response is critical

I have a number of other notes I could share with but the above is what I got most out of. I also appreciated the role plays we did even though I don’t care much for doing role plays. I liked the fact that about two thirds of ASIST was learning how to do a intervention. The way were learned how to do an intervention was by doing the role plays.

I’m glad I was able to share what I learned in ASIST with you. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Peace out!!

Writing 101: Finding Your Inspiration; Day Ten: Update Your Readers Over A Cup Of Coffee

Posted on by Gertie

I would like to say off the bat, I don’t like coffee and wouldn’t be drinking coffee. I would most be drinking hot tea or hot chocolate.

On that note if we were to enjoy a warm beverage together, I would much rather hear what was going on in your life. I would be interested it what was going on in life. I would love to hear how things were going with you family, career and other ambitions. I would be asking questions and listening intently on every word you speak. After you tell me what is going on in you life then I will give you an overview of what is going in my life.

I would tell you about my career change in the last year. I would tell you how much I love my career. I would explain to you how if it wasn’t for me being in recovery, I wouldn’t even have a job much less be working in the mental health field. I would mainly tell you how my Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) went. I would go into so much detail about the training that I would ask if we could meet for warm beverages again tomorrow.

In fact that is what I am going to do. When I blog tomorrow, I will tell you more in depth about the ASIST training. The last week has been emotionally exhausting and need to take time to myself. Have a wonderful weekend and peace out!!