Charlotte is available for mental health training, public speaking, consultancy and more. She has around 15 years’ experience in health and social care, particularly maternity services and criminal justice, in frontline practitioner and managerial roles in Probation offices, courts, prisons and acute hospitals. She has specialist training/experience in clinical audit, delivery of cognitive behavioural programmes, child protection, and serious substance misuse.
Charlotte’s mental health portfolio includes:
– Delivering Mental Health First Aid training as a qualified instructor
– Providing testimonials to delegates on Mind training courses and for Mind’s Partnerships Fundraising team
– Member of the Lived Experience Advisory Panel supporting the Primrose study with the McPin Foundation/UCL, which focuses on improving the detection and management of cardiovascular disease risk in people with severe mental illnesses in primary care.
– Participation in a McPin Foundation/UCL study into medication choices in pregnancy as a Peer Researcher, undertaking qualitative interviews, analysing the data, writing up and disseminating the study
– Member of Editorial Advisory Board, The Lancet Psychiatry
– Freelance writing on mental health topics
You can find Charlotte’s media and writing credits here
purplepersuasion 
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Bipolar should not frighten anyone. There are professional Doctors and nurses ready to help you. Bipolar can be bad when you are going through an uncontrolled phase, high or depressed, but always remember the drugs Doctors give you are to help you get better.
I was diagnosed in my early 20’s and have been admitted into hospital six times. Usually you attend hospital once or twice to get the condition in control. It can be scary at first, but always remember the staff are there to help you. But never ever forget you can always ask for a second opinion if you are not happy.
The admissions to hospital have taken about 4-6 months from my life, but they have given me all the rest of the time, a quite normal existence.
I am one of those bipolar people who count myself lucky to have experienced the thoughts that have come with the highs! Those ‘highs’ which so many people seems scared about, are in fact incredibly enlightening, and you can feel as though you are walking in the presence of God, if that’s at all possible? You can feel delights no ordinary individual will ever recognise or ever feel – how sad I think!
So bipolar makes good people, that’s a fact. You may be fragile and even depressed at times, but you an important individual who deserves care just like anyone else, never forget this.
If you ever feel let down by the system, ask for a second opinion; your doctor or health team wont mind, they are all professionals.
If you ever feel angry or upset discuss this with your health team immediately, it may be that your drug dose has weakened or strengthened, and needs slight adjustment; it’s best to be safe than sorry. And never stop the med’s without professional evaluation.
If you are like me and think you have been made a better person by this ‘illness’ please do get in contact, for it’s great to share points of view.
Good luck to everyone in the future, and remember you have been given a rather special insight to life, and a very unusual gift.
Happy days,
Paul
Hmm. Well, I have now been an inpatient for 7 days and even the best of the nurses admits to learning from me because she knew nothing about rapid cycling, and *nobody* on the nursing staff seems to know about mixed modd. The community nurses in the Home Treatment Team were far better. One nurse here said I was recovered” because I appeared very different to the last time he saw me. Hopeless really.
Hi Charlotte,
Thank you for this amazing site where people can be open, vulnerable, and share their story. 🙂 It’s so refreshing to hear about other people that are going through similar situations in life because it is so easy to feel alone, especially with depression.
I wanted to share my story about “dancing with depression”, and it would mean SO MUCH to me if I could hear back from you! 🙂
At the bottom is a link to my talk at UCLA on “Dancing With Depression”
When I was 10, I was almost killed in a plane crash, that took my mom’s life.
I had severe back pain and walked with a limp all throughout high school.
I was picked on every day in high school.
I was verbally abused by my step-mom.
I had thoughts of suicide.
I almost took my life.
My dad died of a drug overdose.
I chose to live.
I chose to not be afraid anymore about sharing what was REALLY going on inside my head.
I chose to be proactive and do things that could help me feel happy.
My dream to end the stigma against depression and mental illness so that we can have a conversation about it instead of being pushed away.
We are all human beings and all of us will experience pain and hardship, but we need to be supportive with love and open arms.
It is my life’s mission to help people overcome depression and stop suicide.
Even through all the ups and downs of life, I’m still here because I chose to live.
I love you.
Choose to live.
Best,
Matt