The Bipolar Lift aims to provide holistic support for those living with bipolar disorder and their families. The organisation endeavours to improve the overall health and wellbeing of those individuals by providing both emotional and practical support, including talking therapy through one-to-one sessions or group therapy sessions, nature walks and excursions and support with personal finances. By providing complete support in those core areas of an individual's life, the organisation aims to improve the person's overall wellbeing and help them feel back in control of their lives.
Furthermore, each service user is provided with a tailored care/self help plan to ensure the varying needs of the individual are recognised and met. Being based in Nottingham, face to face support is offered to local service users but telephone and Zoom support is offered nationally.
The Bipolar Lift fills a real unmet need in our community and was founded by an individual diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
The following services are available to those living in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire -
- One to one sessions
- Group support sessions
- Walks
- Visits to places of interest
- Boat/River cruises
"I will never forget how much help The Bipolar Lift provided, they listened to me and even accompanied me to my psychiatrist appointments and helped in my recovery"
With years of experience, our team of volunteer Mental Health Social Workers, Health & Wellbeing Manager and Bipolar Disorder well-being volunteers will assess you and create a custom self help plan that's right for you. We understand the importance of educating you on the most effective ways to take care of yourself, so that you can become the best you can be by overcoming any employment, welfare, debt etc, issues you may be facing.
"Great service and I know I can rely on The Bipolar Lift to help"
By offering holistic support, we expect to significantly improve the quality of life of those in need and enable people to live fulfilled, happier lives while managing their condition.
In my late teens, I began to notice that something was different. I couldn’t quite put a finger on it
though. For example, when I was a first-year student in a university, after reading the news
online, I would begin to think that the news was talking about me. That somehow, this was all
related to different events in my life. For instance, when I was in the middle of depression, the
news would be threatening. When I was in mania, the news was suggesting that I was a famous
person!
As I became more and more ill, I stopped listening to and reading the news. I told myself that
there wasn’t anything wrong and that I was simply getting “upset.”
Fast forward a few years later and I would learn that this is called “ideas of reference.” This is a
feature of psychosis. Psychosis is also common in folks who experience bipolar.
The Journey To Acceptance After Being Diagnosed
After being diagnosed with bipolar, I began my long and slow journey to acceptance of the
condition. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), an organization based in
the United States, oftentimes this long and slow journey is seen by others as a form of “denial.”
But labelling an individual’s journey to accepting their condition as a form of “denial” is very
problematic in numerous ways. That’s because the person with the condition might:
● Lack awareness of their condition. With mental health conditions like bipolar, it’s
sometimes hard for the person with the condition to have insight. It may sometimes take
the person months or years to be aware of something being “off.”
● Have to learn to identify triggers and healthy coping mechanisms. The journey to
self-awareness doesn’t just mean accepting the condition, but also recognizing triggers.
For example, different people with bipolar may find certain situations and individuals
trigger. In addition to recognizing triggers, individuals with bipolar also learn to find
healthy ways of coping.
Acceptance of the diagnosis is important because bipolar is no longer seen as “the invisible
enemy.” Instead, it’s just one aspect of your life. It doesn’t define you.
Finding The Beauty of Bipolar
A healthy way of accepting bipolar is to find the beauty in it. You might be thinking “how do I find
the beauty of bipolar when it’s impacted me, my relationships, my goals, and my life?”
The answer is, as the Holocaust Survivor and psychiatrist Vikor Frankhl writes in Man’s Search
For Meaning, “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change
ourselves.”
You can’t change having bipolar, but you can change how you view and react to it. As I
mentioned earlier in this article, bipolar did shape my experiences. However, it never defines
me.
Download a self referral form and return it to: support@bipolarlift.org
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