Rachael Newham

It’s been a weird few weeks. A few weeks full of, catching up with old friends, essay-writing, sermon-preparing, working and writing. One thing that has struck me, is how many people I know who are dissatisfied with singledom. People who see that little heart connecting two names on Facebook and sigh, wondering when it will…

If you’ve read any of my blogs recently, either on here or on my new blog –  http://thinktwiceblog.wordpress.com/ (apologies for the shameless plug) then you will know that I recently spent two weeks shadowing and working with the Spiritual Care Department of the Hertfordshire Partnership Trust. Having travelled around nine different mental health units, I…

Once in a while, you realise that there are people in your life that have changed you. For me, the people that have changed me most considerably, are those who saved me, who held me and those for whom I have had the privilege of doing the same. Those people who I have shared the…

I have quite a few revelatory experiences recently. It’s been a strange time. Maniacally busy with work, committee, friends, home and family; I have found myself writing poems and songs to try and evacuate my mind. The following was written in response to a song written by my friend Amy: For those children who do…

A weird title for a blog you may think – and you would be right. In the reading I’ve been doing about mental health and theology, its an image that crops up again and again. In the book of Joel there are many references to locusts – there is a promise, that one day, God…

Apparently. I think it is an overused word. When I was ill, I said sorry ALOT! I thought that my mere existence was a pain and so I apologised to doctors, friends, family – everyone, and then I apologised for apologising.I catch myself doing it now. I have to think about whether I have anything…

I’ve been thinking a lot about love lately. When I was younger, I always thought that love was that funny mushy/butterfly feeling you got when the boy you had a crush on brushed past you in the corridor. I knew I loved my Mum in a way that was different from that, in the way…

I’ve been incredibly lax with blogging this term – its’ been a bit manic. We started the term with fun in the (snowy) sun, cancelled lectures and not a lot to do was a fun time to catch up with friends and just enjoy being back in the lovely land of LST. It’s been a…

Is the name of a conference I am going to in March; I have often wondered whether the Mind is, in fact beautiful. Whether that is because my mind has so often launched attacks on itself, let me down and taken me to some dark and dangerous places. I often find myself speaking of my…

It has been quite a while since I last blogged – in fact it was last year! I have been challenged again and again recently to actually DO something about the passion I have for mental health awareness and support. Part of me knows they are almost selfish reasons – I do not want what…