About us
One in 4 people will suffer with their mental health at least once a year. It doesn’t sound like a lot but it is. Even if it doesn’t affect you, it likely affects someone you know. Some people don’t get affected by trauma as much as others do. It doesn’t mean they are stronger, it means that we’re all just wired differently.
My story:
I have suffered with my mental health on and off for 25 years. As a creative person, I really struggled to work where I wasn’t being creative. In 2017, I left my role as a teacher at Kensington Aldridge Academy after Grenfell tower burnt down which was situated above the school. The community was rocked and as much as I put on a brave face for the kids, it all got too much for me and so I left after the summer term. This was one of the biggest traumas I have faced and it seemed to be a catalyst in my mental health problems over the past 5 years.
I was with a partner that I truly loved and we suffered a miscarriage in 2019. It was a very long process and I ended up having an operation to remove tissue three months after. We were thrilled when we fell pregnant again and our gorgeous son Kylo was born in August 2020. Like many other new mums, having a child for the first time during the pandemic was terrifying. We had to go to scans and appointments alone and the whole experience which should have been wonderful was a bit of a nightmare. I got extremely ill after the birth and was hospitalised twice. I had to spend a lot of time away from my 4 week old baby when all he needed was his mum and all I wanted was to hold him. I had to stop breastfeeding (something I truly loved and thought I had control over). Once I was well enough to meet friends or family, it was outside and there was many occasion I would have to feed Kylo under an awning because it was raining and standing up because the benches were taped over due to Covid restrictions.
No matter how many lows we can experience in life (and there have been a lot). Grounding yourself and being grateful of what you have already is a great way to push negative thoughts away.
I am so fortunate and lucky to have a wonderful little family and I know how soul destroying it can get when in the midst of a depressive period.
Love and Chi was born when I was in a dark place but it has really helped me start to think more positively. I have made each bracelet with so much love and want to give 10% of every bracelet sold to Mind Charity for all the help that they do for people suffering with their mental health.
I decided on the name Love and Chi because it basically sums up the main things that have helped me get through a dark time.
Love - As a mother, partner and friend.
And
Chi -which represents radiance and vitality in life, health and order in your body. It means having compassion: loving yourself through good decisions and bad, and loving others the same way. Chi is the essence of who you are.