“Why moving out of London might be the best thing for your career and your life” my opinion piece in Metro

Why you don't need to live in London to have a successful career and be happy
Best. Thing. Ever. (Picture: Getty/Metro)

As someone who works in the media, and made the move from London to Stoke-on-Trent in 2009, I don’t think you need to be based in London to ‘make it’.

You can work outside the capital and still flourish.

‘There is a wealth of talent right across our country that all too often gets overlooked and Stoke-on-Trent is a prime example. We have a rich cultural heritage, a fantastic local workforce and we’re located right in the heart of the country,’ says Stoke-on-Trent North MP Ruth Smeeth.

METRO GRAPHICS
Is this really what you want from life? (Picture: Metro)

Since leaving the capital, I’ve been at the helm of a medical journal, written for most national newspapers as well as the Lancet, paid off my debt, bought a house with my partner and I am currently writing my first book.

Opportunity knocks on doors across the country.

John Lees, a careers expert and author of How To Get A Job You Love, tells me: ‘Jobs increasingly exist outside London, and often cost a great deal less in terms of housing, travel, and the wear and tear of commuting.

‘New technology is one key reason for this growing number of opportunities as we can now frequently work anywhere.

‘While these jobs can sometimes be harder to spot, for some, the rewards of finding the right role in a calmer and saner part of the country can be immense.’

I concur.

And there are thousands of success stories from people who have never lived in London.

Digital Nomad using laptop, Wat Jed Yod in the back, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Could you be a digital nomad? (Picture: Getty)

Matt Timmins, CEO of Simply Biz, is one such example.

According to him: ‘Success in life depends on the journey you take and not the city in which you reside.

‘Personally, I never considered that I would need to move to London to ‘make it’ and I have no desire to live there.
‘My success allows me a happy and fulfilled life with my wife, daughter and our dog on a six bedroomed farmhouse set in 15 acres and we regularly enjoy sunshine breaks to our villa in Spain.’

Beach with palm trees, Florida Keys, Florida, USA
The office (Picture: Getty)

Some people find success after struggling in London and then moving elsewhere.

Jemima Lord lived in London in her 20s, working in fashion journalism.

The competitive nature of the industry meant she worked long hours, and the pay was restrictive, so she needed the financial support of her husband to be able to stay in the job.

They moved to the South of France when she was 30, and now live in a rural village near Uzes, a medieval town in Languedoc-Rousillon.

She said: ‘I now run my own business, Lord Vintage, creating handbags and jewellery using locally sourced vintage and antique materials.

‘I’ve also been able to take time out to train as a yoga instructor, and now teach several weekly classes.

‘Moving somewhere far less expensive than London meant that my husband and I could afford to buy a property and we were able to create work spaces for us both, including my atelier as well as a yoga studio.

‘Being somewhere quieter than London has also been perfect for bringing up our children, and our work-life balance is so much healthier than before.’

Street in wine-producing village of Chateauneuf du Pape, in Provence, France.
Maybe the perfect life for you is in a rural village abroad (Picture: Getty)

Sarah Twyman, an account director for a PR agency in Manchester did the same.

She explained: ‘I’m originally from Kent but I’ve lived in London on and off since I graduated in 2001.

‘In 2010 I met my boyfriend on a night out in Manchester and after doing the long distance thing for around nine months, I took the plunge and decided to make the move north when I was 31. It’s not a cliche that the people are friendlier.

‘I’ve since bought a flat in the Northern Quarter and had a baby.

‘The fact that I can still walk to work means that I get home in time to give Lily her dinner at 6pm and put her to bed.’

Personally, I think the notion of success being the reserve of ‘perfume bottle cities’ should be put to bed too.

Read it on Metro UK now and see what others had to say!

Advertisement

It’s time to get creative and make a film about mental health on Positively Scottish

 

IFC awards still

If you want to change how mental illness is seen and talked about – get into film.

Now’s your chance to steal the limelight in the International Film Competition for the 2017 Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. Entries, which are open to global applicants, close on March 31.

One tip for this year’s entries, says producer and film festival curator, Richard Warden, is to capture hearts and minds.

“We’re particularly keen to see films addressing mental health with personality and verve – work that is brave, open, and takes chances. ‘Challenging but accessible’ is one way I put it. But we consider all engaging approaches.”

Now in its 11th year, the competition provides its award winners (and selected other entrants) with the opportunity to showcase their films to festival audiences.

With winning films screened during the Scottish festival in October 2017, and honoured at the International Film Competition awards ceremony, it’s the perfect way to get your work out there and seen by the right people.

Competition is fierce. Last year, the festival received 1600 entries from over 100 countries. Speaking about the mass of global entries, Richard says it’s one of many highlights of his work on the competition. “It’s a privilege to view compelling stories from around the world. We had to start programming beyond just the winners, as there was so much more we wanted people to see. ”

Claire Lamond w IFC award still

But just by entering your film, you can also be part of the emerging, global discussion about mental health. Claire Lamond’s film All That Glisters won Best Animation in the 2012 International Film Competition, and Sea Front picked up the same award in 2014.

“It’s a fantastic forum to help film-makers and service users addressing important, sensitive issues and I can’t praise enough the political awareness-raising side of it,” says Edinburgh-based Claire (below).

“I know it’s said a lot but we need to talk about mental health: again and again and again and always. The stories that I am drawn to are about people striving to exist and making sense of the world around them. Wee stories about wider society. And this means that mental health often plays a part in the telling of them.”

Claire says film-making and studying creatively has helped her beat her own anxiety and depression; for a time she had to stop work. When she eventually began to recover, she attended Stepping Stones (now replaced by the Alma Project), an arts-based mental health project.

They had a film-maker in residence, Robbie McKillop, and with his support Claire made a feature that won Best Drama in the 2007 Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. “As I recovered more,” says Claire, “the project supported me to go study and I found myself at Edinburgh College of Art.”

For Claire, to have her films recognised in the competition was personally very empowering. “For me it was a testament to the power of art in healing and a personal lesson in the incredible work that arts projects are doing in the area of mental health.

“The actual awards ceremony is an amazing night. It’s such a treat to get to meet a whole pile of film-makers, all with something important to say. That’s not to say there isn’t a place for escapist dramas but that’s not my place,” adds the winning film-maker.

SEA FRONT stillLast year’s winners were shown at the CCA in Glasgow, Edinburgh Filmhouse and other venues, and accompanied by post-show discussions which Richard says is another highlight of his work.

“These conversations can involve film-makers, film subjects, those with lived experience, mental health experts – the audiences are wide-ranging, and the forum is an open one. They’re an opportunity to witness the immediate impact that cinema can have.”

So, what are you waiting for? Go on, enter. Perhaps you too can be an award winning film-maker and start up important conversations about mental health that win hearts and minds across the globe.

For more details on the competition, go here

Why schizophrenia need not rob us of a life in academia in The Guardian!

After opening up about my mental health problems, I received the help I needed to do my lecturing job well, writes Erica Crompton in The Guardian.

8198653122_568abd13fb_z

On an autumn afternoon in 2009, I was fired from my job as a university lecturer. I hadn’t declared my schizophrenia on an application form and this was treated as gross misconduct. Many years later, I returned to the lecture theatre – but this time I was open about my condition, to a much more positive response. I learned an important lesson: that if I’m open about living with a mental illness, I can receive the support and help that I need.

I’ve since continued to work and have found it good for developing my sense of self-worth. I’m not alone in experiencing this. Elyn Saks, who also happens to have schizophrenia, is a remarkably high achiever. She first fell ill in 1977 and joined the USC faculty in 1989. She is now a tenured professor of law, psychology and psychiatry and behavioural sciences at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law; adjunct professor of psychiatry at the UCSD School of Medicine; and on the faculty at the New Centre for Psychoanalysis.

For Saks, who has also authored a book about her experiences of schizophrenia called The Center Cannot Hold, work has been key to recovery: “When I’m writing an argument or counter-argument, the crazy stuff recedes to the sidelines,” she says. “Work gives me a focus and a sense of self-esteem. And for me it is the last thing to go. As I have come to say, my mind is both my best friend and my worst enemy. Being an academic with schizophrenia has been largely positive.”

She wasn’t open about her condition at first, though. “I was closeted the first two or three years at USC. I then self-disclosed to four people pre-tenure; then another six post-tenure; and of course to the whole school on the publication of my memoir,” she explains. Her story ended up reaching even further when it became an opera.

Working it out

Processed with VSCO with 6 preset

She notes, however, that when it comes to achieving high she is not one of a kind. “People often tell me that I’m unique. But it’s just not true,” she says. For a paper on psychiatric services, she interviewed about 20 people with high-functioning schizophrenia, including high-flying doctors, lawyers and a chief executive. She says: “Our subjects described techniques they’ve developed to manage their symptoms – anything from challenging their problematic thoughts to manipulating their surroundings to engaging with spirituality.”

Stephen Lawrie, professor of psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh, agrees that hiring and working with people with schizophrenia is beneficial to their recovery. Through the Scottish Mental Health Research Network, his department works with people with schizophrenia, and other illnesses, to develop research ideas and projects that would be interesting to and acceptable for patients.

Lawrie suggests that work can help people feel useful and valued, while also helping others to appreciate the difficulties facing people with schizophrenia and their strength in the face of adversity. He says: “There are many benefits to employing people with schizophrenia. In general, if anything, people with schizophrenia are more kind, caring and considerate than the general population.”

There is also good evidence from clinical trials, he says, that a scheme called individual placement and support – which gets people into competitive employment with training and support on the job – can help people with schizophrenia get jobs and keep them. “By giving people jobs, employers would contribute to an increased understanding and acceptance of the condition,” he adds.

An example of such inclusive practice can be found at the University of Westminster, which hosts a Recovery College tailored to people living with mental illness. A peer support worker, someone with lived experience of mental illness, will work with professional staff to deliver training programmes to improve lives.

Francesca is one such senior peer support worker. She says working at the university is an opportunity that is beyond any expectations she had when she was unwell: “During my time in hospital I thought a lot about wanting to use my experience as a way of supporting others in future, in order to help them feel understood and less alone. At the time I never thought this role would exist… Doing this work gives me a sense of purpose, and has given meaning to the difficulties that I went through in the past.”

It also ensures she stays on track and practices self care. “I believe that my role keeps me motivated to keep well and look after myself in order to support others in doing the same,” she says. “This responsibility has added huge value to my daily life and future aspirations.”

 

Other universities use mental health first aid training courses to equip staff for dealing with mental health crises among colleagues and students. Caroline Hounsell, director of product development and partnerships at Mental Health First Aid England, says: “Academic staff are facing increasing working hours, with less resources, and more demands – which is taking a toll for those working in higher education. Our training seeks to support staff as well as students, because we recognise that both communities are facing unique challenges.”

Hounsell says there is a real need to educate people on how to spot the signs and symptoms of mental ill health and how to best support someone who might be experiencing difficulties.

None of this support was in place when I was lecturing and struggling with my own mental health. But I’ve kept in touch with one or two of the students I worked with during my ill-fated lectureship. One told me that I was the best lecturer she had, and her mother even took me out to lunch recently. So it’s important that people with schizophrenia have hope that they can achieve their ambitions and goals – greater recognition among universities of the need for added support is certainly a welcome development.

Join the higher education network for more comment, analysis and job opportunities, direct to your inbox. Follow us on Twitter @gdnhighered. And if you have an idea for a story, please read our guidelines and email your pitch to us at highereducationnetwork@theguardian.com

Special edition newsletter for 10th anniversary of Careif

As part of my mental health campaigning, I’ve guest edited a special edition newsletter to help global mental health charity Careif celebrate 10 years!

Today, I’ll be at the House of Lords to meet with peers, psychiatrists and senior mental health figures to talk about Careif and my volunteering to produce the newsletter…

cover-image

Read the full newsletter careif-newsletter-10th-anniversary

 

%d bloggers like this: