Sheffield Flourish is a new mental health social enterprise aiming to create a vibrant online space full of opportunities and information for Sheffield people, by Sheffield people. We chatted to Sheffield Flourish’s Creative Content Producer, Lucy Paige Hamilton, about the project and her role within it. You can also find a link to Lucy’s YouTube channel, plus two of her spoken word videos and poems.
What is Sheffield Flourish?
Sheffield Flourish is a new social movement aimed at reimagining a mental health friendly city by creating a network of life stories, communities, volunteering and enterprising opportunities.
We promote the belief that all of us have a great deal to offer to the world, while also acknowledging that people need support, resources and social networks in order to build fulfilling lives.
What will Sheffield Flourish hope to achieve for people with mental health conditions, and how?
We are aspirational and realistic about valuing and supporting the hopes, skills, and talents, of those whose lives have been touched by mental health difficulties, whether these have been diagnosed or not, by providing a collaborative online platform from which these diverse experiences can be shared.
What have Sheffield-based projects, activities and groups got to offer people managing their mental health?
Sheffield Flourish will provide an inspiring and caring platform for sharing personal experiences, expertise, and creative endeavours, to which anyone can contribute. By developing our inclusive network we aim to be a vehicle for sharing social opportunities and future events, with the hope that everyone has access to the fantastic mental health friendly projects Sheffield already has to offer.
How can people get involved in Flourish?
Flourish is for anyone who has in some way experienced the unique challenges of living with mental health difficulties. Whether you have a personal story, or creative project to share, a group or event to promote, or would in any other way like to contribute to Flourish, we would love to hear from you!
Visit www.sheffieldflourish.co.uk to check out our audio manifesto, and be sure to leave your email address if you’re interested in finding out more, getting involved or just being the first to know when the flourishing begins.
Lucy Paige
It always amazes me that issues of mental health, which approximately a quarter of us have experienced in some way, are still such social taboos. Exploring this creatively, I have come to realise that our mental health can massively shape both our personal and social identities, and that, while it doesn’t have to define us, it is okay to accept the part it might play in our lives.
In my role as a Creative Content Producer for Sheffield Flourish, my main aim is to celebrate some of the more unique quirks of living with mental health difficulties, particularly eating disorders, anxiety and depression. By focussing on everyday details that those struggling with some of these conditions might experience, I hope to demystify mental illness. I take inspiration for my poetry and spoken word from challenges that might otherwise be overlooked or misunderstood.
From personal experiences, and by collaborating with others, I hope to show that being able to talk more openly about both the good and the more challenging times can have a huge impact on those living with and recovering from mental health difficulties.
Please check out my YouTube channel “WordSherbet” to hear me vent about themes ranging from wider issues such as the portrayal of eating disorders in social media, to my personal struggles with a box of Japanese KitKats.
“WordSherbet”
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYHyEDTAVuDkfDSVImjd4Wg
‘Dear Cosmo’
Fruit Pastels, Serving Size; 12, kCal per serving; 168
10am in the library –
and again, I’m ashamed to be hungry
because, though breakfast was small, it was something,
and no one around me is snacking,
and whilst part of me’s saying just eat it,
skinny me’s saying ‘you don’t need it’.
“9 Stone” is the goal, but I’d settle for less,
anything more than this mess, this debate
between putting-off putting on weight,
and waiting to want to
and if healthy’s the goal then I wonder
why 8 and a half seems less perfect than a little bit under.
7 days but its best to take each at a time
because if Monday and Tuesday are fine
Then on Wednesday and Thursday I know I’ll make myself struggle-
and Friday the pivotal juggle
between a week of depriving and a weekend deciding
that I’m stopping declining, and it starts in the shop.
6 swaps, six; between Skittles and Snickers and Bountys;
I don’t realise I am counting
until I finally proceeded to Self Check-out, and wish I didn’t have to.
5p for a bag. 5p for a cover
to hide from these strangers who couldn’t care less
that my purchase confesses what feels like a failure but is really success.
4 attempts to swallow, four; but then I refuse to delay anymore, and I just
do it. I won’t undertake the infamous challenge;
chewing is a chore in itself and choosing to chew, already sucks.
But I’ll let it.
Slowly, I’ll get it, I’ll let it sink in.
Because slowly but surely I’m starting to win.
And all the picking-up-putting-back stares I don’t mind,
all the time spent deciding is really a sign,
that I’m finally getting my life back.
Because 3 weeks ago, it was a flap jack
2 months ago, just an apple
And 1 year ago, it was a 1 calorie, coke-zero
I put back. And walked away.
But I didn’t today. I went back.
And today: I bought fruit pastels.
‘Travelling Light’
The Food Selfie
Flick after flick my thumb scrolls through streams
of dimly lit coffee shops, cute cats, and memes,
and mac make-up triumphs, but hey, I don’t mind
And I guess it says more about how I spend my time
But there’s one part of this whole scene I object to.
It’s the unwritten rules about what’s cool to post.
Seems the vignetted, monochrome snap shot of food
is the main re-offender that’s mimicked the most.
Well, I’m sorry if my photographed sandwich offends you
because avocado’s too hipster, the quarters too neat,
and if its crusts lack the edge of an ambient still frame
of evening meanders, block fringes, green tea,
then sure slate aesthetic but don’t criticise
the subject, because you can’t know how it looks through my eyes.
And I don’t mean the filter but the thoughts it represents;
thoughts that drain every hour, every minute, I spent
in planning, re-planning, despising the night,
every second tick closer to each calculated bite.
Because, to me, every filling still feels like a failure,
Every barely there protein, maybe more on a good day.
But every measured out morsel of low-fat cream cheese,
though I might not believe it, means I’m doing okay.
Because I’m learning to see food as important for living
but not at the extent of it controlling my life,
that for most people food is just something that happens
three or four times a day and not have to think twice
or deprive for a fortnight to regain self-control
from saying ‘sure’ to a snack when I could have said ‘no’.
And social media allows me to start that adaption;
relocating the challenge from the food to the caption.
Though time spent choosing filters might delay a little longer
swallowing my sandwich and my pride, I’m getting stronger.
And celebrating good fats, makes them easier to face,
swapping celery for calories doesn’t feel so out of place.
But I know that it’s risky- a ‘like’ might turn you vegan-
so feel free to unfollow, I wish that I could.
You don’t have to like the idea of my sandwich,
but maybe soon, they won’t have to keep telling me I should.
Words & Videos: Lucy-Paige Hamilton
