Mr Tom James

For those of you who don't know I'm currently at university studying for a PGCE in Post Compulsory Education. Basically, I'm training to be a college lecturer. During my course induction we were asked if we were interested in offender learning and I naively ticked the box to say yes without giving it a second thought. A few days later two visitors came to university to give a talk about their roles as teachers in a local prison. Prior to them arriving my mind was already made up, no way on this earth would you get me through the gates of a men’s prison to go and teach. I had a head full of preconceptions about prisons but hey most of us are guilty of that when the nearest a lot of us have ever got to a prison is a TV programme or film. The talk was really persuasive as I sat there listening I slowly become more and more relaxed and open to the idea so much, so I put my name down for a visit. Well yesterday was the big day a friend from uni picked me up and off ...

If there's one thing I've learnt since creating my blog, it's the importance of talking to someone and releasing some of the thoughts going around and around in your head. I've always hated the thought of anti-depressants; my biggest fear is getting addicted to them if they worked so I've always avoided them as much as possible. Tablets and I do not get on very as well, as a depressed teenager I found myself lining up piles of pills and slowly taking them one by one. Luckily, I told my family who rushed me into hospital where I was fortunate enough to not need my stomach pumping and lucky it wasn't more serious.  In the past I've thought if I had anti-depressants and was depressed then more than likely I'd end up taking another overdose to block out all the thoughts and escape my depressed world. However, in my last doctors’ appointments my GP and I both agreed it was time I tried anti-depressants as nothing else was helping. I felt so...

First of all don’t worry I haven’t broken the law and been placed under house arrest. It’s my mental health that’s restricting me to the same four walls 24 hours a day. I’m safe in my room as I don’t have to see anyone but the thought of going out in public gives me the shakes, the thought of being around people petrifies me. It’s so difficult to explain, I’m trapped cause on one hand I’m desperate to get out the house and have some interaction with the outside world but on the other hand when I do rarely leave the house I’m desperate to get home cause the social interaction is too much for me. I can’t look people in the face when I’m talking to them.  I live facing Tesco which is the cause of my anxiety as when I was 18 I worked there and got held up in an armed robbery and was diagnosed with PTSD. It’s that bad that I rush to the windows in my house and count the number of cars on the car park waiting until there’s 3 or less before I go over. Otherwise, my...

Over the years I’ve tried a ton of shampoos, nice fragrant ones, ones specially for men and of course the classic anti-dandruff ones and not one has made much of a difference. As I’ve sat and dried my hair after a shower I’ve noticed straight away I’ve still got Eczema and Dandruff. It might not seem like a big deal but it can make you feel down when something so simple isn’t a problem for many other people. For me my Eczema on my scalp has always caused me anxiety, elsewhere on my body I can hide it but when it’s in your hair there’s little you can do. My first three years of secondary school were tough, we had to wear dark navy blazers and throughout the day my Eczema would always be noticeable on my blazer collar and I couldn’t not wear my blazer cause of my excessive sweating which I was trying to hide. No matter how many times you try and explain to people that it’s Eczema and you can’t control it they don’t listen, to them it’s dandruff and just makes you look lazy and unhygi...