Welcome to My New Mental Health Blog
-
Featured
Therapy Fish at The Royal
By Anita Manley Let me tell you a story about Billy and Bella – the Betta Fish. For approximately two years, Billy the Betta, Volunteer Therapy Fish, swam around in his comfortable bowl on the counter of the Winter Garden… Read more
-
Featured
Living a Life with Purpose
By Anita Manley We recently lost a good friend named Gillian. She passed away suddenly at the age of 75. Her celebration of life was the best I’ve ever attended and many others agreed. People were laughing and some dancing.… Read more
-
Featured
5 Mental Health Benefits of Practising Meditation
Guest Blogger Laura Kidd is a Kundalini yoga and meditation teacher from Ottawa who is now living and teaching at JOY Yoga in London, UK. A passionate advocate for mental health and well-being, she also runs her own lifestyle blog,… Read more
-
Featured
Reflections on the past decade
By Anita Manley For me, 2010 began being totally estranged from all my family and friends (including my two teen-aged daughters) and living in a women’s emergency homeless shelter. I was sad, lonely and angry that my life had turned… Read more
-
Featured
My New Happy Lamp!
By Anita Manley Years ago, around 2005, when I was younger, working full time and was a half-time parent, my psychiatrist suggested to me that I purchase a S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder) lamp. I had all the symptoms. Once the… Read more
-
Featured
Be Kind.
By Anita Manley When I say Be Kind, I am not talking about only being kind to others, but also, Be Kind to yourself. It is so true that we do not know what goes on in other peoples lives… Read more
-
Featured
Let it go!
By Anita Manley Perhaps you are now envisioning me breaking out into the Frozen theme song! And, I’m OK with that. A couple of weeks ago, I was speaking with a good friend and colleague about some things that happened… Read more
-
Featured
Suicide Intervention
By Anita Manley A couple of weekends ago, I took an intensive and emotionally exhausting training session for suicide intervention called ASIST – Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training. I am now certified. I did not write a post last Monday,… Read more
-
Featured
Surround Yourself With Positive People!
By Anita Manley Along my road to recovery, I have found that surrounding myself with positive people has really helped improve my state of mind. Firstly, like attracts like. Positive people are fun to be around, and they always point… Read more
-
Featured
The Importance of Setting Goals!
By Anita Manley Setting goals and accomplishing them, has been a very important part of my recovery, and still is. There is nothing like putting a check mark next to something on your goal list and thinking – next! What… Read more
-
Featured
Why Women’s Mental Health?
By Anita Manley I volunteer as a peer facilitator in the Women’s Mental Health Program at The Royal in Ottawa, ON, Canada. I am always amazed by people, even women, who ask: “What is so different about women’s mental health?”… Read more
-
Featured
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!
By Anita Manley I’ll be spending the day with family. Singing, jamming and eating. I am cooking a turkey, making stuffing, mashed potatoes and garlic buttery beans and cherry tomatoes with apple pie and ice cream for dessert. We have… Read more
-
Featured
The Importance of Sleep!
By Anita Manley I have always needed a lot of sleep — more than my peers, it always seemed. When I was first diagnosed with a mental illness back in 1997 (at the age of 32), and was prescribed medication… Read more
-
Featured
Book Recommendation – The Four Agreements
By Anita Manley The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz is a small but hugely insightful self-help book. This book provided me with four simple guidelines to personal freedom. Yes, they are simply laid out and very clear, but these… Read more
-
Featured
Making your bed… and other routines.
Routines are so important to me that I consider them a part of my self-care. A few years ago, when I had been recently discharged from The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Care Centre and was very happily living in my… Read more
-
Featured
Who inspires me?
Since launching this blog, several people have asked me “What made you decide to write a blog?” For many years, I had been toying with the idea. I journal regularly, and the thought of writing a blog appealed to me.… Read more
-
Featured
Building stronger connections…
Written by Anita Manley Within the past year, I attended a Family Support Group at The Royal in Ottawa that covered the topic of validation. Although this communication skill was not new to me, the session reminded me to use… Read more
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
