What made me a leading mental health and social affairs writer? A mixture of experience of the realities of the downtrodden and a need to support those I view as my folk. The pen is mightier than the sword!
Reality from the Coal Face
Having a learning disability and mental health issues has not held me back in my career. It has enabled me to see life as it is for those who don’t break through the almost bulletproof glass ceiling of the stigma of having such issues.
In a nutshell my weaknesses are also my strengths. Those I interview consider me as one of them.
My career began in part due to my Master’s Degree in 2006 but mostly due to the connections I had in the mental health world.
Mental Health Writer
I fell into the media committee of the National Survivor User Network (NSUN) alongside the then editor of Mental Health Today. I had just published my first book, Giving Voice to the Inner Scream, an investigation into what the stigma of mental illness means.
Surviving her and her successor at the practitioners’ journal I would be a freelance columnist and feature writer for MHT for almost eight years.
Mental health is core to so much in the world. It’s amazing that my career would grow in such unexpected ways from this field. As with my personal growth, so my writing grew.
Changes in Interests
As humans it is unhealthy to get too stuck into one niche or another for too long. It gets musty and stale after a while.
I diversified firstly into sailing journalism and then into cannabis feature writing as my abilities and interests grew.
You could say my time as a mental health nursing journalist enabled me to grow out of it!
Mental Health and Social Affairs Writer
One day someone found me on the internet with a dreadful story of how her NHS Trust had failed her and her family. Pitched the story about and the story ended up in the Sunday Express.
That would lead to a relationship with the national newspaper that went on for many years. It also enabled me to publish in Inside Housing, Community Care, and 24 Dash Magazine.
I also co-authored the popular book, Beat Stress – Feel Better with the Men’s Health Foundation.
Online and Beyond
I was convinced to write for Lending Tree in the US by an old friend who saw I got paid at a ridiculously better rate than print journalism for the mount of work actually done!
In publishing stories with Custodial Review and Invisible People I have always kept my hand in – and as you can see am always open to hear a new tale or opportunity.
If you want a skilled and passionate mental health and social affairs writer then look no further! Look at my portfolio and email me at freelance@richardshrubb.com
