End-of-Year post: Free Your Mind in 2011

First-things-first: Thank you for continuing to support FYM!!! :-D

It has been a long year for the Free Your Mind campaign, and myself (N.E.); but we (FYM) are very excited about continuing to move forward in 2012!

During March and April FYM took part in an online "book-club" discussion, on Twitter and Facebook, with All-Walks - "an initiative founded by Caryn Franklin, Debra Bourne and Erin O'Connor working... to celebrate more diversity within the fashion industry" - in which we discussed Bodies by Susie Orbach.
Previous blog post: 'All-Walks Book Club.'

At the beginning of April 2011 FYM collaborated with Imagine-mental health charity's Croydon branch to hold an art exhibition, called 'Broken Paths', at Fairfield Halls (Croydon).
Previous blog posts:
pre-BrokenPaths promo: 'Upcoming art exhibition...'

I also posted a follow-up entry to this blog after the exhibition about some of my thoughts and ideas on how Free Your Mind can progress forward: 'FYM took part in first public event in April this year...'

Nicola E. (me, :-D) was sectioned twice this year; first in April, and then again in November - but despite the lack of quantity of posts on this blog, I am always trying to improve the quality of the content delivered by both FYM and myself.

I decided to start-up Free Your Mind after feeling I was being abused by nurses on a psychiatric ward who were prejudiced towards people with mental illnesses(!); and, during that particular stay in hospital I was arrested and charged with criminal damage (to hospital property) and alleged assault charges (pressed by nurses on the ward).

In October 2011 I appeared in court facing the above charges - after I returned from court I posted an entry to my Tumblr blog about what happened and my thoughts on the experience.

So, we end 2011 and move forward into 2012 - and at FYM we are grateful for all your support, and we look forward to you continuing to join us on this campaign's journey. :-D - Thank you!

Free Your Mind wishes you 

happy holiday cheer 

and all the best for the next coming year.

Therapist Susie Orbach discusses body image (video)

Whilst researching for this blog post I came across the following video on the Guardian website of Susie Orbach discussing body image and her 'Endangered Species' campaign.

Recently, Free Your Mind took part in the All-Walks book club in which we discussed Bodies by Susie Orbach.

In Bodies Orbach discusses how, for both men and women, our bodies have now come to be seen as being in need of constant improvement, and how this view of our bodies are influenced by society, media imagery and those around us.

During our book club discussions we shared our experiences with our own bodies and body image, explored where our ideas and opinions of ourselves may have originated, and the role they now play in our everyday lives.

We talked about how our views of image are shaped by many different factors, including; upbringing, media images, interactions with others, and our surrounding environments.

And we discussed the varying attitudes we have towards both our own and others' bodies - for example, feeling too fat or too thin; or, too short or too tall, and so on - and how we then apply these same or,  completely different standards to others, or none any at all (i.e. we are often our worst critics!).

The topic of how body image problems are trivialised and are not seen as "real problems" was often raised, along with the negative impact trivialising these issues has on everyone involved, not just for those whose problems are being trivialised.

Orbach touches on these points in the above video; but I'd recommend Bodies for her full exploration of both our attitudes towards our bodies and, also, of how they are shaped by our experiences, citing case studies and her own observations, as a therapist, as examples.

(Click here for the previous blog post, 'All Walks book club'.)

Endangered Species
Susie Orbach's Endangered Species summit was held during March this year; which, through a series of events and speakers, aimed to celebrate body diversity and challenge the culture that teaches girls and women to hate their own bodies.

All Walks Book Club

Free Your Mind is proud to be taking part in the All Walks book club.

All Walks is a project co-founded by Debra Bourne, Caryn Franklin and Erin O'Connor which aims to challenge both the fashion industry's, and society's, view of body image and beauty.

Anyone can take part in the All Walks book club; all you need is Bodies by Susie Orbach, which is the first book we will be reading. We will be reading one chapter a week starting with the introduction and chapter one. Discussion will take place on Twitter with the hash(#) tag #AWbookclub and on the following Facebook discussion forum: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=17591&uid=275187151550. Make sure you are a part of it!


Find out more about the All Walks book club on the All Walks blog here: http://allwalks.org/?p=2214

FYM on Twitter: @FYMcampaign - http://twitter.com/#!/FYMcampaign

All Walks on Twitter: @allwalkscatwalk - http://twitter.com/#!/allwalkscatwalk

Also involved in the discussion:

Michael 'Frost' Williamson: @mwfrost - http://twitter.com/#!/mwfrost - fashion designer and stylist, and blogger of Safety Pin Charm fashion blog, whom is also involved in All Walks.