Opusia, #poetsin, and Mental Health Help. Dear Opusians, every single one of you. For those of you who do not know, I am the co-founder and CEO of #poetsin, a charity that rehabilitates and aids mental wellness through the power of words. We work with a plethora of people, including some of the most vulnerable people in our society in a bid to help them heal. We share the content of our writing groups from a UK based prison, right here, on Opusia. This content is their homework, designed to improve their writing skills, whilst showing them a way to purge their unwanted feelings thus allowing their confidence and self-worth to grow. The comments from this content gets passed directly to the prison resident, giving them a sense of pride. It also serves to show them that they aren’t being judged by their mistakes, and that there are people who will listen and understand the way in which they feel. We give a voice to the voiceless. Around 90% of the people we work with have mental illness of some sort. Some more severe than others. We’ve had many success stories throughout the 18 months of operation, and have seen many mental illnesses reduce through the power of words and using those words as a coping strategy, and a therapy. One of the most severe cases we have worked with is a woman who self-harmed every day. She suffers with severe multiple personality disorder along with episodes of psychosis. When I first met her, I came away from the prison and cried for her. For the scars she had caused on her arms – the worst I’d ever seen – which went through the skin, through the muscle and to the bone. That was 18 months ago. Today? She’s been 6 months with no self-harm due to techniques we (#poetsin) have taught her. She’s an excellent writer, and a beautiful soul that, in my opinion, doesn’t deserve to be punished when she was let down by society. She is why Paul and I continued battling constant red tape to get to where we are. Since then we have worked with many other women who use self-harm as a mechanism to release pain, to cope. One of whom this last week has written, and we have posted, three pieces about self-harm. I know that the fact that this particular girl is writing about self-harm means she’s not self-harming, however, this may not be transparent to everyone reading the words she writes. As a human being, let alone as a charity, I feel it is important to make anyone and everyone aware of the services around them should they feel as though they are in crisis and writing simply isn’t helping them enough to rid themselves of those thoughts or feelings. Firstly, let me make this point. Between #poetsin and Opusia, know that this beautiful place is a place of zero judgement, 100% understanding, and comes with the most incredible community there is online. I have made #lifelong relationships with many people here, people I consider friends – some of them the finest friends anyone could ever hope for. It’s a safe place here to share and explore your feelings – where race, gender, sexuality, religion, and all the other things that divides the world, doesn’t apply. It’s a place where words connect us. A realm where words heal, words make us laugh and cry, together, as a family of wordies who live and breathe the ink that drips from our pens. So, please, purge your pain, and if you need someone to listen, tag me, tag @Honza. We will direct you to the right help if we can’t help ourselves. Secondly, I’ve written a Wiki right here on Opusia, filled with information of where you can get extra help should you need it. This will grow as Opusia does to include as much help and information as possible. Initially, it has UK contacts and advice, but I am working hard on a USA list and a list for the rest of the world, too. To find the UK wiki, head here: https://opusia.com/wiki/uk-mental-health-help Lastly, each piece we post here that may have triggering content, we will add a triggerwarning hashtag. We will also add the link to the Wiki with a bunch of contacts should you find yourself in crisis. #poetsin and Opusia are committed to providing a safe haven for everyone. Please shout me or Honza should you need any assistance at all. If you, or someone you know, feels #poetsin could help them, please visit #poetsin.com/contact and send us a referral.  Sammie xo    ##poetsin #Opusia #WritersofOpusia #Pinners #MentalHealth #stopthestigma #HelpAndSupport