Thursday 7 February 2019

Mind Training and #RightWordsRightMind


Hi Everyone,

I went to a couple of courses in the past couple of weeks. The first was Student Mental Health and the second was Emotional Intelligence and Resilience training.

I wanted to do these a long time ago. As some of you may know, I am not only a Scope Role Model, but I am also a Volunteer English Tutor with Action Tutoring - and I am helping these students prepare for their GCSEs – yikes!

And I thought to myself – student mental health – I wish someone cared about mine during high school! Could I help? What could I help with? Do I know the red flags? Do I know the stats? I had no idea of the answer of these questions – I had some work to do!

The most important thing is that mental health is a spectrum for everyone, and is it okay to not be okay. The worst thing you can possibly do is bottle it all up and not tell anybody. 

To feel confident within yourself, express emotion, engage with the world around you, using your time wisely you and coping with the stresses of life are the key aspects to having great mental health. To feel all of these at the same time are the rare great moments in life.

The “stress bucket“ is very real! All your duties colliding at once can have a serious impact on your mental health – and the stigma of mental health and talking about it doesn’t really help anyone either.

The general age of people being affected by mental health is gradually lowering. That is really terrible, no matter what position you’re in – male, female, old, young, Rich or poor. Disabled or not.No one really talks about it and end up caged in their brains instead.

My Depression comes and goes. It generally flares up when I am unproductive, “unhelpful” or unable to do something due to illness that is not connected to my disability. Isolation and constantly being badgered down for my views too. Just like everyone else, when I am sick of fighting, depression creeps up on me.

The worst thing you can do you to yourself is deny you are feelings, And not to make them feel known. 

I’m not ashamed to say that I can get depressed. You shouldn’t either. It's okay to be sad.

I found this quote, and it makes so much sense:



Now, when it comes to emotional intelligence, I think I had the breakthrough when I was 14. I found myself analysing how I feel, why I feel the way I do, figuring out by myself how to deal with it and move forward whilst looking at the wider picture of the impact of actions for everyone else. 

Everything starts with a trigger, which manifests into thoughts,, emotions, physical sensations and behaviours. But you also have to understand what your emotions are in the first place. It can be a deadly cycle when we think negatively. As difficult as it sounds, we need to change our thoughts into positive ones, or at least less daunting ones. Negativity does us no good. You are the biggest critic of yourself, and we always end up hurting ourselves for no reason. 

Resilience comes from within you, and how you decide to cope with this situation – whether this be taking physical action, a conversation, or simply having the strength to do nothing. It’s not just about being “Tough“ It’s about learning from your experiences and doing what makes you happy without putting yourself in excess danger.

Disabled or not, you deserve to be happy.

We need to stop acting like mental health is no big deal. It’s essential to your well-being as a whole. Don’t blow it off as unimportant. You are damaging yourself.

Words of encouragement and support will help people into the right direction. Acknowledge emotion. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. You’ve got this far. You’ve got so much to do still.Nothing in life is a permanent state.

And that’s why mental health and emotional resilience is important for everyone. Keep on going!

Raisa Xx

#RightWordsRightMind
#PositivityPossibilitiesProsperity
Twitter:@right_words

P.S.: If you need any help with your mental health:


Friday 18 January 2019

Scope Role Models and #RightWordsRightMind


Hi everyone!

Happy New Year!

Long time no post! Sorry!

After a hectic festive period, holiday, bout of illness and birthday shopping preparation, it’s back to work for me!

The Scope For Change Program not only kickstarted my campaign, but it also feeds into my work in the Scope Role Models department! Bonus! 

I went in as a volunteer Role Model for 9 sessions over 2 days at the Central Foundation School for Girls in Bow on Monday and Tuesday this week. It was my first school, and I had an absolute blast! The head of Year 8 is an amazing woman, taking the whole thing so seriously, fully supportive , and asking me all the right, thoughtful questions. 



We spoke about how common disability is, and how important it is to be understanding of visible and invisible disabilities. And how not to talk to a disabled person. Like this:


I cringed EVERY SINGLE TIME I watched it. Please don’t do stuff like this. 

I got asked about my condition a lot, the importance of travel accommodations, disabled toilets, if anyone had been rude to me like the video above, (The answer is yes), and the impact of bullying(To which my response was “I just want to be treated like a human being with feelings“), amongst other things. 

2 particular questions stuck out for me though, for their originality. 

The first was a brave and unexpected question: how did I feel when I understood that I was a disabled person? I told her the truth: I was extremely frustrated with myself, looking at the left side of my body and commanding it to work properly. It took me a while to get my head around it. It took me a long time to understand, accept and respect my limitations. I don’t put myself through unnecessary hell any more.

The second was extremely relevant to this campaign: the overall concept indicating that disability could strike anyone - at any time. I discuss this with you now so you don’t learn the struggles of disability the hard way (acquiring one yourself out of the blue). Being nice and understanding and learning from my experiences makes all the difference. After all, we are people too!

Ask about our conditions curiously, Not rudely. Take us seriously. Consider our emotions.

If this doesn’t happen, there is a slim chance of #RightWordsRightMind for the disabled person. 

I am glad I am able to set the record straight for some people. I hope you can join me in this quest!

Until next time,

Raisa Xx

#RightWordsRightMind
#PositivityPossibilitiesProsperity
Twitter: @right_words