Feel the magic at The Cauldron pub in Brighton
If we were eating a lot of food for this special happy issue of Hopezine, we couldn’t do so without a good watering too. So, we drank all the liquid at The Cauldron, a magical-themed pub set in Clarence Gardens in Brighton. We took an aperitif outside first and then headed into the warm interior, […]
Vegan and accessible: terre a terre in Brigthon
Paul and I went veggie for this issue of Hopezine and it was surprisingly good! Terre a Terre is a restaurant set within Brighton’s famous ‘Lanes’ that has a reputation for the best vegan and vegetarian food in the UK. Now, I was surprised Paul agreed to visit with me as he’s quite the carnivore! […]
Hopezine Editor’s ‘happy book’
Once upon a time I thought I was clinically depressed as I slept so much (a side effect of my antipsychotic medication) and spent a whole lot of time in bed feeling sorry for myself. I mentioned this to my care co-ordinator and she booked me onto a course of Compassion Focused Therapy, a talking […]
Hopezine Editor Erica Crompton’s new medical memoir – out now!
★★★★★ The Mind Surfer is journalist Erica Crompton’s memoir, a collection of first-person prose and journalism that details exactly what psychosis is and how she learned to manage it in her late teens to mid-thirties. This book is aimed at all people, young or old, whose lives have been touched by psychosis: themselves, their loved ones and their […]
How fashion helps with my mental illness
Photo by Johnny Holden Living with a mental illness for two decades has not dampened ERICA CROMPTON’S desire to dress well. Here she explains how fashion helps her with managing her psychotic illness and staying comfy… Fashion boosts my self-esteem, helps me create an identity outside my diagnosis and I take great solace in my […]
Hopezine winter 2022 out now!
Welcome, winter Hopezine, 2022! As the nights draw in, we offer you some different thoughts on medications for mental illness. I’ve included a few different perspectives for you to decide for yourself though there’s no shame or judgement whichever course you decide to take. Your mind, your choice. For the cover you’ll see our Accessibility […]
A Poem By Mud About Psych Ward Meds
she sucks on her menthol e-cigarette it tastes like the outside desperation in a tube. she turns her head from side to side staring blankly all around her taking nothing in but nicotine. a step forward, she’s at the counter name? turn the page a little paper cup, with little paper pills, plastic gulp of […]
Why I didn’t take medication for my anxiety by John Apples
I was 16 when I first experienced social anxiety. I was on a half empty train to London when it pulled up at the last stop and then, a tsunami of passengers spilled onto the train. I panicked as I got squeezed amongst the passengers and broke into a cold sweat that drenched my entire […]
Why I choose to take medication for my mental illness
I’ve made the artwork opposite to show how my brain might look when I’m unwell with psychosis. I call these collages the ‘brain surgery series’ as to make them I take a scalpel to pictures of people in magazines! Since 1999 I’ve taken different measures of antipsychotic medication to treat psychosis or the brain explosions […]
A delightfully accessible day in York
As one of the UK’s biggest tourist destinations, Paul and I fiddled with chocolate buttons and ate like Fat Dan from Rate My Takeaway recently in York. For our stay we drove 20 miles North East of the city centre to Sandburn Hall Hotel which had the most sophisticated wetroom we’ve yet to encounter on […]