From Aissata: These past three weeks, we have had the opportunity at MRCF to learn some techniques in the art of paper crafting. This was really fun as we made some very nice greeting cards. Some of them were donated to the elderly and we were lucky to keep others for ourselves. It is very good to be able to attend those kind of activities. While making the cards, we had some nice talks and laughs. It was great! That is why I am very grateful to Sonia who offered the material that we all worked on and Sue who was so dedicated in teaching these new techniques. Hopefully, we will see them soon for more workshops.
Depression is a word used often and often misunderstood. The stigma attached to depression can be due to a lack of understanding of the disorder. If people understood that depression is something that could affect anyone at anytime and is actually very common and nothing to be ashamed of, then maybe more people would be able to come forward and seek the support they need in overcoming it.
Feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, guilt, unexplained episodes of tearfulness, bleak thoughts about the future, fear of going insane or losing control, thoughts of self harm, irritability, indecisiveness or a loss of interest in activities usually enjoyed including sex....are all signs that one may be experiencing depression. These are by no means the only symptoms of depression. There are many, including physical symptoms such as chest pain, digestive problems, headaches, bad memory, lack of appetite and sleep, back pain, body aches, weight gain or loss amongst many others!
So why do people get depressed?
Recently, Shazea Quraishi, English PEN's writer-in-residence at MRCF, led a workshop with the Theatre Group entitled Letters from Tomorrow. We invite you to listen to the group's moving podcasts by clicking on this link.
Check out this exciting upcoming event through St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace...
Stories that heal, stories that harm
Friday, 29 June, 2012, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
A participatory day of cross-disciplinary dialogue and discussion. The aim is to pool learning from those working with personal and community narratives, in order to build a more complete picture of the field, stimulate best practice, and allow cross-fertilisation of ideas.
In collaboration with the London Inter Faith Centre, The Forgiveness Project and The International School of Storytelling
You are invited to attend the Migrant and Refugee Communities Forum's
Engage to Change: Integration – Where next?
Thursday, May 24, 2012, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Our key note speaker is Don Flynn, Director of Migrants Rights Network.
The government’s Creating the Conditions for Integration strategy transfers responsibility for integration to local areas, without refering to any models or guidance about what successful integration looks like, whilst also hijacking integration as yet another excuse to speak about security and extremism. Resources, of course are not attached to any of it. It was also disappointing for those of us working on the integration of new citizens that the government completely ignored our efforts, expertise and contributions.
Imagine you’re walking down a dark alleyway and a suspicious character appears behind you with a knife in hand! Sight of this puts you in an immediate state of anxiousness - your heart is pounding frantically in your chest, your breathing becomes fast and shallow, your body is trembling and your legs feel like jelly, your throat becomes dry, and you feel dizzy and nauseous. You turn around again and now they are running towards you. You panic and are now physically ready to protect yourself from the perceived attacker or run as fast as your legs will carry you. This is known as the "fight or flight response,'' a natural human survival mechanism used to protect us from danger.
Sometimes we have thoughts and fears triggered by a whole range of negative and stressful life experiences which can subconsciously activate the fight or flight response even in the absence of danger. Our mind communicates to our body that it needs to protect us from perceived danger. When this occurs in the absence of any real danger, the body physically reacts in a way that the conscious mind cannot understand as we begin to physically prepare to protect ourselves from a danger we cannot see. This is when we experience all the unpleasant symptoms of an anxiety attack such as palpitations, trembling, shallow breathing and dizziness, alongside a whole range of other physical symptoms, but can’t quite understand why this is happening. These symptoms are simply our body physically preparing to run or fight off an attack. The first time a person ever experiences an anxiety attack is usually reported to be an extremely terrifying experience mainly because they didn’t know what was happening to them.
Jeena, an advocate of homeopathy, explains how it works:
Homeopathy was
started by a German scientist. The British Medical Association does not
endorse it because it has not been scientifically proven, but Prince Charles is a big advocate.
If
you drink coffee during the night and can’t sleep, a homeopath will
take the same substance in the coffee that causes you not to sleep to
treat you. It’s like an immunization. They treat you with what causes
the problem.
They
take the substance and dilute it and drop it on small balls of
sugar that are lentil sized. They shake this, and the number of times
they shake it is the strength or concentration.
It works with the body like drugs, or magic, and is even used to treat moods and emotional trauma, and children and animals.
Tablets
must be soaked with a dry mouth, and you can’t eat or drink for half an
hour before or after you take them. You should keep them away from
perfume. You should only take them when you have symptoms and
immediately stop taking them as soon as the symptoms finish.
