Weekly Round Up: The Mental Health Edition

Time for this week’s round-up of the best of the blog posts which I’ve read over the past week. These are the posts that have moved me, taught me something, inspired me, and which I’ve wanted to share with you. Don’t forget if you have written a post which you would like readers to see, just leave a comment below.

I am so pleased that so many of you joined me for the Mental Health Day Blog challenge this past week.  Yvonne wrote of the steps she is taking to ensure optimal mental well-being while Justine writes compellingly of the need to “break the shamed silence and negative stigma surrounding mental health”.  

Part of eliminating the stigma is talking openly and honestly with someone – the theme of Helen’s post to mark the day. And  by talking about it, we help others – Elizabeth  writes about her own struggles with mental health to eliminate some of that stigma and in the hopes that it will encourage more people to seek the help they need.   Meanwhile the Living Beyond Breast Cancer blog shares some of their own helpful resources. 

Unfortunately there is still a lot of ignorance about mental health, and Eileen shares a personal story which illustrates this. Finally, though not directly related to the Mental Health Blog day, both Diane’s and the Cancer Curmudgeon‘s posts convey the emotional impact of cancer which can still effect us months and even years after treatment ends.

Elsewhere in the blogosphere….

A big warm welcome back to Nancy of the Pink Underbelly, who is marking a cancerversary.

Fiona shares a compelling piece by Kate Granger, a terminally ill young doctor, who is working  actively on social media to ensure that the health services remember that patients are people, not diseases, symptoms, or conditions.

Nancy lists 5 reasons why you should see the movie Decoding Annie Parker.

Victoria has written a beautiful reflection on life and death – a must-read this week.

A sobering look beneath the pink packaging of breast cancer on the Scope blog, which reveals the reality that early stage breast cancer can be far more lethal than we are led to believe.

Check out this wonderful poem written by Audrey.

Teresa shares important information on the cardio-toxicity of some breast cancer treatments.

Both Jennifer and Jo discuss hair loss as a result of chemotherapy on their respective blogs.

Beth writes of her experience with her first oncologist.

Debbie reprises a helpful post on dealing with cancer anger.

Finally, I leave you with a lesson from Jackie,  “life is short. There is no time to leave important words unsaid”.

Is there something you need to say to someone today?

Until next week.

Yours with love

Marie xxx