Hi, I'm Elizabeth - or Lizzie - and this is my public mental health and recovery journal. I'm a passionate and dedicated mental health advocate from up North in England, writing from the lived experience of mental illness and continued mental health recovery.
I've always been a writer, and combining my love for this form of expression with a platform to do some good for both myself and others has been a true dream for me.
With the hope of helping others navigate the complexities of trauma, depression, anxiety, BPD and other mental health-related issues, this mental health & recovery journal aims to illustrate the real experiences of these topics with authenticity, honesty and openness.
Hopefully, by raising important questions and insights that I know have helped me, others may find a path to better understanding their own mental health.
With opinion pieces, journal prompts, mental health guides and more, why not take a look through all of my posts today, or follow me on Instagram for daily content!
Whether you’re in recovery from mental illness, undertaking addiction treatment, or just dealing with difficult emotions relating to your mental health and recovery, journaling can be a great tool to complement your overall recovery plan.
There is no right or wrong way to write a recovery journal. Whether you want to write an open recovery journal (like this blog) or create a private mental health journal is completely up to you. You can use a journal for long-term goals, reflections, building self-discipline, building self-esteem, and just generally boosting your recovery process.
Journaling can be a great tool for those in addiction recovery. You can use it to track sobriety milestones, reflect on underlying thought patterns and behaviours and work through any issues that arise as you work through the different stages of your recovery. An addiction recovery journal can be really helpful, especially in those first few days/weeks/months.
To start a gratitude journal, all you need to do is start taking note of the things you are grateful for each day. You can do this at any time during your day, but I like to do it in the mornings and evenings. Even if it’s just 2 or 3 things: the roof over your head, the love in your life, your beautiful cat. Just start noticing and noting.
For addiction or substance abuse/misuse recovery, the best app I have found is the I am Sober app. It tracks all of your milestones for you, allows you to pledge every day and gives you daily motivation, as well as communities that are at the same milestone and point in their recovery journey.
You can find some helpful journal prompts for different goals, moods and occasions here on my blog, but you can also find them in tons of places online. If you search for journal prompts on Google, Instagram or Pinterest you’ll find a whole host that you can use. You could use prompts that allow you to write to different people: Dear future self, dear past self, dear present moment, etc. Or you could even write letters to actual people in your life that you never send. You could use key questions as prompts to gain insight into your thought patterns, or you could find bullet journal prompt inspo if you’re a more visual type.
If you decide you want to go for a public recovery journal, it might feel overwhelming or daunting at first, but its benefits are worth it. By journaling online, you gain the potential to connect with a wider mental health community. One that understands your struggles and can actually gain something from your experiences. Sharing our stories helps others do the same.
Though journaling can be a key tool to bring a sense of awareness and focus to your mental health and healing progress – and can even be a great way to challenge and overcome negative thought patterns associated with trauma or painful experiences – sometimes we need more immediate help.
If you need immediate crisis support and feel unsafe: