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News & Events, Personal

OTHER: A Directorial Debut Film by Nova Reid

December 13, 2018 by

I wanted to have a conversation about race. So I did. On camera. Telling the stories of the often unheard. Unedited. Last week I hosted an intimate screening of my directorial debut film, for friends, family and cast members at RSA House and it was the most vulnerable I have ever felt on stage. In 2016, I had a sequence of life events that left me feeling completely and utterly lost. In a bid to start reconnecting with myself, I started to create again, just for me. I had forgotten how creating is so vital to expression  and to who I am. It is also a form of self care. On a whim, I applied for a place on a short course funded by Creative Skillset in collaboration with the BFI to encourage more…

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Mental Health and Wellbeing

Turn Frustration into Innovation

November 12, 2018 by

Absolute pleasure to be featured in an article on Virgin discussing how to turn frustration into innovation. Frustration affects the best of us. Even the most creative and innovative. Whilst frustration can paralysing, it can also be an “excellent state” to motivate us into new action. Thought is not fact. Unhealthy thought patterns can lead to heightened responses to stress, which affect our ability to process information and think clearly. As Henry Ford said, ‘Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right'. You can read more of my musings in the full article here .  

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Diversity, Mental Health and Wellbeing

How can you help when the world feels like its in trauma?

October 30, 2018 by

Our sociopolitical climate is changing. We are feeling the effects of that. Various reports show a significant rise in race and religious hate crime since Brexit and the Trump administration and it is anticipated that we will receive a further rise when we leave the EU in March. But many wonder where this increase in hate is coming from and feel powerless to stop it. From the more overt acts of verbal racism being captured closer to home to  devastating violent attack to the Jewish community in America  I see a lot of people posting about how sad and abhorrent it is and that we should all pray. A similar sequence of events happens on social media whenever there is any attack, major or minor. An outpouring of love, perhaps a trendy new hashtag and…

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Mental Health and Wellbeing

5 Quick Tips to Improve Self Care During Your Working Day

October 29, 2018 by

The battle between work, time and self care continues to pull you in all directions, regular occurrences of burnout are increasing, but they are not normal, though we have come to accept a culture that expects burnout and celebrates being busy. With articles asking us why modern women are struggling so much with their emotional, spiritual and mental wellbeing it's definitely time we started paying better attention to our wellbeing. Self-care is vital for self-preservation, eliminating burn-out and looking after our mental well-being, yet there remains stigma attached to it, that it is selfish, indulgent, only for those who aren't strong or to be preserved for a massage, weekends, or trendy hashtags like #selfcaresaturday only. Better understanding what self-care actually is and being able to incorporate self-care into your routine on a daily basis…

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Diversity

Black History Month

October 22, 2018 by

October is Black History Month in the UK and I am reminded why, now more than ever, this 31-year-old educational initiative in the UK, remains vital. With the recent cyber racism attacks on the initiative, organisations changing the name to "diversity month", the Windrush Scandal and not to mention a sociopolitical climate that is bringing our race relations in Britain to the surface, I've been producing videos each week to talk about all of this and more and to celebrate some incredible British icons and change-makers in the black British community. You can catch up on my free video content and insight into race and black history over on my instagram IGTV or Linkedin. I'll be finishing the video series this Friday 26th October at 1:30pm (BST) with a live Q&A session on instagram.…

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Mental Health and Wellbeing, News & Events

End of Year Reboot

September 29, 2018 by

How are you feeling? With the change in season and burnout possibly setting in, I think it's the perfect time to let you know about my forthcoming UK  self-care retreat. In a society where were are permanently on the go, overwhelmed with the volume of things on our to-do list, retreats not only encourage deep relaxation and a chance to hit the reset button, but they inspire change and have been described by previous attendees as completely life-changing. These carefully curated exclusive retreats are not for the faint-hearted, but they are for the committed and for those who are tired of settling. Numbers are kept deliberately small so you get unprecedented access to me and my guest experts. Are you ready? Let's go. The low down Press pause and take a day off with us. This mini-day…

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Diversity

Are you prejudice about body size?

September 26, 2018 by

The recent cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine continues to cause great divide amongst friends and colleagues and was featured on Good Morning Britain again this morning. With journalist Piers Morgan openly stating it is unhealthy and dangerous for body positivity activist and model; Tess Daily to act as a role model and for Cosmopolitan (who have featured the model on their current issue of the magazine), who he states are both promoting morbid obesity. Some of Piers Morgan comments on Twitter have included: You’re 5ft 3in and 300lbs, which as any doctor will confirm, is morbidly obese. “To promote the as a positive body image to help your millions of followers is dangerous, deluded nonsense. You need help, not praise.” Piers has been accused of fat shaming. My social media timelines have been divided, with…

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Mental Health and Wellbeing

The Link Between Colour and Joy: What Colour is in Your Wardrobe?

August 6, 2018 by

Did you know colour and joy are intrinsically linked? I watched a great Tedx video by designer and writer Ingrid Fetell Lee who discusses the effect colour has on our mood.  Ingrid references research that shows us that pops of colour bring us JOY. Yet, so many of us hide behind dark colours and grey in our wardrobe, we are surrounded (mostly) by grey buildings and dark or neutral colours in school, at work, in hospitals or simply just in our cities. So if we know that colour improves are mood why is it that our everyday is surrounded by neutral colours?   https://www.ted.com/talks/ingrid_fetell_lee_where_joy_hides_and_how_to_find_it?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_content=talk&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare&utm_term=social-science We need to add more colour! Black has always been my go to colour - its easy, there's no disputing it's elegant, but it also means I can easily blend…

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Mental Health and Wellbeing

Mental Health and Black Women

July 27, 2018 by

Recent NHS research reveals black women are more likely to experience a common mental health disorder such as depression, anxiety panic attacks, than white women and according to the British Journal of Psychiatry, if you’re aged 16 to 34 and black you’re more prone to self harm too. But why? Is it because we have been conditioned to tolerate pain – to be seen as strong, to be more resilient? Cultural conditioning? Or the painfully debilitating stigma associated with mental ill health and Caribbean communities that we should not talk our business, just get on with it and be grateful? With my background in therapy aside, I am always the person my friends turn to for emotional support, on the flip-side, perhaps there is an assumption that “strong women” don’t need care, that we don’t struggle and, but…

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News & Events, Personal

The Power of Empathy

July 13, 2018 by

Empathy I care deeply about the human experience and as cliché as it sounds, making the world a better place. It is not hard for me to empathise with another persons experience of the world that is different to mine. I remember my mum always telling me as I was growing up, that I cared too much.  I have been thinking about this recently. Especially with a certain President visiting the UK who shall remain nameless. You see - if you are not impassioned by something, if you do not feel empathy about a cause, health issue, injustice or inequality (insert your version of this) how can you be motivated to get involved and make change? How often is the case that we don't get involved with supporting charities unless we or someone close…

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