Words In Mind Kirklees Pandemic Podcast

Bell mp3 clip 'The Yorkshire Surprise Royal' ringing. https://www.westminster-abbey.org/about-the-abbey/history/abbey-bells ☆ Twitter resources for anyone feeling alone on Xmas Day: @TheStayingInn will also be running events at 3pm on Xmas Eve and Xmas Day. It’s an online, inclusive, accessible pub for disabled and non-disabled people alike. Events are with captions and BSL. Sign up to the newsletter for details and Zoom links Also, @SarahMillican75 runs #JoinIn if you would like to check in with someone on Xmas Day. The fabulous @RoseAnnieFlo will be hosting #MadCovidChat 5-6pm Xmas day too #MadCovidChat If you’ll be alone in the UK on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or Boxing Day, please consider contributing up to three photos of the natural world on each day to the http://solitary.christmas gallery. Thank you!

New York Public Library podcasts Neil Gaiman Christmas Carol ep: https://www.nypl.org/blog/2014/12/19/podcast-neil-gaiman-christmas

A digital Christmas poem...

A mother and daughter build a gingerbread house.

A podcast I recorded lying in bed feeling disappointed about 2020!

Today we look to Scotland, find out what a Poppinayego is and learn about Icelands Yule Lads. You hear the Yule Lads story here https://youtu.be/vovJF1uTtAI

A favourite of mine; can you tell that I was tired and emotional when I recorded it? 🥰

I murder some of Englands oldest Christmas Carol lyricism and talk about what it means! You can listen to I syng of a mayden here : https://youtu.be/TG4h2G78ceg

Who is on your list?

A parenthood poem about Christmas Eve.

Illness, vulnerability and winter.

Why we hang it over a door and the story of Baldr and Loki's mistletoe arrow!

Ian Mortimers time travel book: http://www.ianmortimer.com/books.htm

Quality street ramblings!

A poem about Christmas cake from 1770s.

A poem about the Christmas Life!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/355131.All_The_Poems_You_Need_To_Say_Hello

Nativity play fun!

What to do with the ugly gift?

Christmas tree ponderings and a look at E E Cummings surreal, evocative poetic style.

A pastoral Christmas scene and crunchy snow!

Ice skating nuns and St Barbara, patron saint of miners, builders and protection from lightning strikes; whose feast day is today.

Happy International Day of Disability!

Penny post and Christmas cards.

Winter snow by Po Chü-i. Image by Rafik Wahba via Pixabay.

In this episode: Rita Hester's case. https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/her-death-sparked-transgender-day-remembrance-22-years-later-still-n1233809 ☆ Stats on transphobic hate crime. https://tdor.tgeu.org ☆ Trans Report Stonewall and YouGov figures. https://www.stonewall.org.uk/lgbt-britain-hate-crime-and-discrimination ☆ The progress flag and what the design means https://www.them.us/story/pride-flag-redesign ☆ Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/06/12/transgender-women-heart-stonewall-riots-are-getting-statue-new-york/ ☆ Mary Wollstonecraft and Chevalier d'Eon. https://www.canelo.co/company/blog/who-was-chevalier-deon-pride-month-book-recommendation/ ☆ Thank you to guests Saorsa Amatheia DWP National Trans Ambassador & West Yorkshire Diversity Inclusion Officer. Melanie Hardwick. Volunteer for Leeds Gender Service, Rainbow Alliance Equality and Diversity trainer. https://www.leedsandyorkpft.nhs.uk/get-involved/rainbow-alliance/ Rhys mental health nurse Leeds & York Partnership Foundation NHS Trust and co founder of the Rainbow Alliance Trust. Rebecca McManus Equality and Diversity Practitioner, Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust.

https://www.leedsandyorkpft.nhs.uk/get-involved/rainbow-alliance/ ☆ https://www.leedsandyorkpft.nhs.uk/advice-support/leeds-recovery-college/ ☆☆ Books mentioned The girl with the dragon tattoo - Steig Larson - Prime suspect by Lynda La Plante - The Lord of The Rings by JRR Tolkien - Harlots & Hallie Rubenhold books The Five and The Covent Garden Ladies - The Colour Purple Alice Walker - Frankisstein Jeanette Winterson - Why be happy if you can be normal by Jeanette Winterson - What it means to be homosexual by Merle Miller - Gay Is The Word bookshop in London. https://www.gaystheword.co.uk/ Believe: Boxing, Olympics and My Life Outside the Ring Nicola Adams ☆ Barbara Gittings https://archives.library.illinois.edu/ala/out-of-the-closet-onto-the-shelves/

'Difficult roads can lead us to beautiful destinations.' Debbie joins me to talk about community, art therapy, creative writing and the power of a mentor. Finding Debbie at: creativejourneytowellness.blogspot.com ☆ facebook.com/groups/creativewellnessjourney ☆ facebook.com/DebbieCreativeCorner ☆ https://www.facebook.com/groups/629365267688157 ☆ Barnsley Adult Skills College https://www.barnsley.gov.uk/services/adult-skills-and-community-learning/ ☆ Kirklees recovery College https://www.calderdalekirkleesrc.nhs.uk ☆ https://www.leedsandyorkpft.nhs.uk/advice-support/leeds-recovery-college/

I've been recording meditations for Leeds Recovery College meditation podcast channel. I learned this meditation back in 2019 and find it has become really useful lately in soothing health anxiety.

In this episode I use six poems to look back at the last 14 years of my own mental health recovery. The poems featured are 'Autobiography in five short chapters' by Portia Nelson, The Hood News by Thich Nhat Hanh, The Guesthouse by Jelaladdin Rumi, Love After Love by Derek Walcott, The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry, Three selves by Nikita Gill.

Self help bibliotherapy: Dr Neil Frewd on bibliotherapy. https://reading-well.org.uk/news/reading-well-in-wales-mental-health-bibliotherapy-is-coming-home https://reading-well.org.uk/books/books-on-prescription https://www.theschooloflife.com/shop/bibliotherapy/ http://www.relit.org.uk Creative bibliotherapy. Words in Mind https://youtu.be/xoaQCNZpOwQ Research into bibliotherapy from the University of Lancaster. http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/bibliotherapy-illness-narratives-and-narrative-medicine(6ff43fac-a597-4318-b965-a6d3900a7be0).html Julie Walker's creative bibliotherapy project covering the Leeds area, Julie is my mentor http://wordsforwellbeing.com

Join me as I travel from Ancient Egypt, the mirtisan wards of medieval Baghdad, through Enlightenment Maine to 1830s radical Liverpool, the roaring 1920s Harlem to the groovy 1970s to explore how bibliotherapy developed over history. We meet some of the notable people who used books to heal and support our mental and physical health. Sources -Words Arts Collage by Peggy Heller, Wikipedia https://mvslim.com/treatment-of-the-soul-healing-of-the-heart-muslim-physicians-and-their-important-contribution-to-mental-health/ Eleanors 'Going Medieval' blog German archeologists reconstruct per ramessus here: https://vimeo.com/194362703 Music from: www.firstworldwarmusic.com

Gary and I talk about them comics we love, the ways comics reach parts of us that other books don't and of course, Marvel vs DC. Kirklees Recovery College: contact recovery.kirklees@swyt.nhs.uk

In this episode I interview Clare Walters, Focused Mindfulness practitioner about how her social enterprise is offering free support to Yorkshire carers and social care staff. We discuss mindfulness, building an emotional toolbox, self help books, vulnerability and the beauty of summer Swallows. To access the AS Wellbeing team: https://aswellbeing.co.uk/support-for-carers/ to train with AS and Clare's team: https://www.absolute-specialists.co.uk/recovering-from-covid-we-are-recruiting/

I interview poet Halima about her community based poetry groups, the fiction characters that inspire her and how the written word helps Halima with her own mental health. The writing group in Wakefield mentioned can be contacted on facebook @besocialious. Poem featured 'Orange' by Wendy Cope. You can find us on Facebook at Words In Mind Kirklees.

Words in Mind volunteer Noel shares his Wordsworth's 'Turn The Tables' and gives us a literary prescription in poem form.

I got together via a Zoom call to introduce Noel, who is a professional storyteller, educator and Biodanza tutor. We discuss the power of stories, optimism and pessimism, inspiring teachers and the many ways we can care for ourselves during this time of uncertainty.

Do you keep a diary? Today might be a good day to begin! In this episode I explore why May the 12th is an annual event of diary keeping.

I take time out in the garden to read aloud a couple of May themed poems in a slice of aural ecotherapy for anyone stuck indoors. With 100% organic Kirklees birdsong.

Join Emma and Erica as we meet the seductive spy Poet of the 17th Century England, Andrew Marvell and the Welsh Supertramp poet W.H Davies, who knows a thing a two about how to how to spend a lazy day. To round this episode off, one of the Words in Mind team Noel- best known for his tuneful Denby Dale sessions - plays us an acoustic cut of a classic, 'Your Song'.

In this episode, I pick the qualities I think get me through a crisis and suggest characters from novels that we can borrow from. Fancy the humour of Falstaff of the confidence of 007? Listen along!

I'm grateful that Emma agreed to guest on this episode. I ask about the books that have made Emma who she is, and Emma reads her favourite fiction and also her own creative writing.

In this episode, I share a reading from Tolkiens book ' The Hobbit' as Bilbo bravely deals with his fear. I'll also share two poems about good days and bad days, and invite you to join me in a book based grounding exercise.

In this episode, we learn about 'Found' poetry, how we can write poems based on what we have lying around, the famous Found Poets and I read Laura Hershey's 'How To Write A Poem.'

Books featured in this episide: Ursula Fanthorpe Safe as House 1995, Peterloo Press. Hope by Emily Dickinson. Weight by Jeanette Winterson, one of Canongates Myth series https://canongate.co.uk/collections/the-myths/ Mythos by Stephen Fry https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/307/307476/mythos/9781405934138.html. Wild Embers by Nikita Gill https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34253376-wild-embers