2026 has begun; and whether it began with parties and fireworks or pyjamas and early nights:
01.01.2026 16:39
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2026 has begun; and whether it began with parties and fireworks or pyjamas and early nights:
Christmas Eve Message:
The #PIP system is both inhumane and ineffective. Today I received a text to say a decision has been made but that I have to wait for the letter to find out what it is. Yet more anxiety and instability caused by a system meant to support me through #mentalillness which in fact damages it.
Advent for the Aching: The Ache of Grief
open.substack.com/pub/rachaeln...
Tune into @ucbradio.bsky.social to join me. #Advent
It is a privilege to be published by incourage again today as Advent approaches. incourage.me/2025/11/our-...
I wrote this last year on Remembrance Day - and it feels even more relevant today. open.substack.com/pub/rachaeln...
Great to chat with Esther Higham this morning on Combatting Seasonal Affective Disorder www.premier.plus/inspirationa...
There should be!
The Big Mental Health Report: How do we respond?
open.substack.com/pub/rachaeln...
Liquidambar leaves laid out in order of colour, green through to deep red, on a buff coloured linen background
Liquidambar leaf palette just now👇🏼. Pause for a moment if you’re feeling anxious-your brain’s likely to release dopamine due to a positive response to colour gradation, certain bright colours & looking at images our brains find appealing. A pause here will make your day slightly easier to tackle 🍁
It’s publication day!
Get your copy now: amzn.eu/d/awj5dwq
Publication week is terrifying. Will people buy the book? Will people like the book? What if it flops + I never get to write another book? (Just a few of my thoughts!)
Then I remember the first line of the book description:
Slow down. Breathe deep. Remember you are beloved.
With all the noise about the Epstein files, it feels like we’ve forgotten that at the centre of this story is hundreds of abused women and girls.
I’d argue for peonies personally…
Anxiety and depression not serious mental health conditions worthy of disability benefits, @KemiBadenoch?
About 60-70% of people who die by suicide have a history of depression or related mood disorders.
#TakingThePIP
The prospect of another heat wave makes me feel a little ill.
Similarly, young people with mental health conditions applying for PIP. Did we lock up teenagers at a pivotal stage of their lives, keep them in a state of heightened anxiety, and legally remove almost all basic coping mechanisms? Might that have had some affect on their functionality now? Maybe?
It's maddening to me how much Covid is at the root of so many of today's crises and we just...don't talk about it?
Take the spike in children needing SEND provision. Did anything huge and traumatic happen recently that might have affected thousands of kids? No? Must be parents making it up
I wrote a piece on what the reaction to Rachel Reeves’ tears tells us about mental health awareness. t.co/sfTmXfeGvN
Got the feeling I am going to have to spend the rest of my life arguing mental disabilities are as legitimate as any other. Because they are.
#TakingThePIP
It’s all a disaster. Do they not understand or just not care the damage they’re doing to people’s mental health?
This is heavenly.
History tells us that reducing benefits leads to higher levels of mental ill health
📢 Today we're urging MPs to vote against the Universal Credit & PIP Bill. 📢
The proposed cuts to benefits could have a profound and devastating impact on people's mental health, undermining their ability to live independently, and causing more people to reach crisis point. 🧵
MPs: Over 1,500 of us, led by clinicians, are begging you—please vote against disability benefits cuts. The DWP already destroys lives. This Green Paper will unleash a tsunami of death, anguish, and irreversible harm. Don’t let this happen. #TakingThePIP tinyurl.com/2n3utkmp
Are they actually!?
The Welfare Reform Bill - even with its amendment is cruel and fundamentally unjust. It must be rejected by parliament… I fear it won’t be. #WelfareReformBill
My son’s is today too - missing it is the only advantage to chicken pox in this weather!
It’s the most convoluted and often cruel system.
