Sorry for my silence here – it’s been a little hectic behind the scenes.

A couple of months ago, I discovered Ignite Cardiff. The first talk I watched was by Christina Thatcher, on the subject of writing about grief. Whilst reading up on the concept of Ignite Cardiff on Twitter, I discovered another talk. Claire Greaves, mental health advocate and Huffington Post writer, was talking about her experience of anorexia.

‘Anorexia has the highest fatality rate of any mental illness. Sufferers can die from malnutrition, heart failure and suicide.’

I heard those words, and they stopped me in my tracks. That was when I turned the video off for the first time. Too many memories, few of them good. I didn’t think I’d be able to watch it again.

However, I decided to continue to follow Claire’s work, and duly discovered her articles for the Huffington Post. Within a few weeks, I heard that Claire had launched a project entitled ‘How Are You? Honestly!’ which aims to turn ‘How are you?’ back into a question, with an answer, rather than a greeting.

From the first, I understood exactly why Claire is doing this, and the importance of the project. I’m guilty of ‘I’m fine.’ So, I threw my support behind her as much as I could, and I’m delighted to say that the post with ‘nearly 5000 honest words’ went live yesterday.

Head over and check it out – and don’t forget to tell Claire I sent you. 🙂

https://mentalillnesstalk.wordpress.com/2015/04/12/how-are-you-honestly-the-campaign/

I’m already looking forward to ‘How Are You? Honestly!’ 2016.