Welcome to Sussex Mad!

The independent service user voice for Sussex

I am Mad about Sussex?

Hmm, well there are worse places than Sussex to live and better ones too, but thats not what this Sussex Mad site is about. This site is actually about living or working in Sussex and having mental health problems. There are a few big official Mental Health sites and lots of small independent ones, I want this site to be somewhere in the middle. A place to give Mental Health Service Users from Sussex an independent place to share thoughts, news and events.

Read more about Sussex Mad

I am Mad?

Well I do have a mental health problem and I have used the mental health services, so yep, some people would probably say I am. Mad is one of those words that so often gets used for the wrong things i.e. most parents do not actually go mad if you are late home, most teenage girls are not actually mad about the latest crappy boy band, film star etc. Then again, if I was sane then I would probably never started work on this Sussex Mad mental health site 8o)

Read more about being mad

Why Sussex?

I currently live in Sussex, but I was actually born in Essex and have also lived in Kent, London and Hampshire. This site is mostly about what is going on in the world of mental health in Sussex, but will also be covering big mental health news stories from further a field too on Sussex Mad. If you have any mental health news from anywhere in the world that you think the visitors to this site would be interested in please send it to me so I can add it, you will of course get full credit for it.

Read more about Sussex

Independent?

I have worked in the past for Mind, Focus on Mental Health, UserQ, Woodlands and numerous other mental health charities etc. but Sussex Mad is not controlled by any of them. The advantage is that I can put whatever I want and do not have to agree with the thinking of other mental health groups (not that I have any problems with the thinking of most of them), the disadvantage is that I don't get paid! So if you see any advert's on this site, please consider clicking them, I am NOT out to make any profit, just cover costs.

Read more about being independent

Service User?

Some people do not like the term service user, some prefer clients, some experts by experience, patients, service survivors, nutters, loonies, mad people, crazy, fruit loops, loony toons plus loads of other names. The opinion here at Sussex Mad is that it does not matter, its just another thing that keeps us busy and away from dealing with the real issues in mental health that effect us all. Getting fair treatment, fighting the stigma of mental health and ending the discrimination that so many of us face is what matters.

Read more about being a service user