It was a very productive weekend, all told. On Saturday, my parents and brother came over to talk about the website we're currently developing which is due to launch in open beta in October. During the meeting, Jess gave me a call to tell me about a volunteering opportunity with Save the Children.
The role was to work on the digital media side of the Campaign to End Child Poverty in the UK. Trouble is, Jess said, that the application had to be sent online by midnight on Sunday. I thought I'd check it out and see whether it would be right for me: as it didn't specifically call for a writer as such I was keen to know what the day-to-day responsibilities would be. I saw that the job required blog writing and an awareness of social networking among other things.
I couldn't get started on the application right away as we'd arranged to go to a friend's gig and stay at their place in north London. We got back early afternoon on Sunday and I got straight to work. I knew my CV needed to be amended as I hadn't looked at it - let alone updated it - since April this year shortly after my employability course with Reed in Partnership. I was really conscious that it shouldn't run over two pages without needing a magnifying glass to read the tiny font. I spent a long time on making it just right for the application, but whilst doing it, I was able to appreciate how much I had achieved since I was last employed. I have clients! Sure, they're not paying clients but one day there will be clients that pay me for my work. I've got back into radio after an absence of six years and it's been really good fun!
Once the CV was done I moved on to the application. I expected it to be quite challenging, but to be honest, it was mostly straightforward. Filling in personal details and the equal opportunities bits was easy. I just had to remember what I learned in the employability course on how to write a good application. I went through the essential skills part of the job description and related them to previous experience that I'd gained in past employment. It took some time to think of the right examples but I was pleased with the end result.
I submitted it 20 minutes before the deadline, which was an achievement in itself. It dawned on me just after I'd finished that I hadn't applied for a job in over a year. A couple of years ago, I'd got so sick of looking around for another job and signed with countless agents for jobs that offered very little in terms of my personal satisfaction. My heart wasn't really in being a PA at all. Now I'm going for jobs that will give me great experience in terms of my future career as a writer. And that's really exciting!
Tuesday 25 August 2009
Wednesday 5 August 2009
On trichotillomania
When Jess and I spoke a few weeks back to review my 12 weeks at Poached, we discussed my writing an article on an issue that is not so well-known in the UK. Trichotillomania is an affliction that affects a small percentage of the population, but has a wider implications for a person's mental health. It is the act of pulling out one's own hair to either relieve stress, or something one idly does whilst watching the TV or reading a book.
I showed signs of tricholtillomania in my late teens. I started to rub my eyebrow hair with my sleeve and found it satisfying when the hairs gathered on my wrist. Soon afterwards, I took to pulling them out with the ends of my fingernails. I would be sitting in front of the TV and before I knew it, I had amassed a little pile of hairs on the end of the remote control. As I began to do it more frequently, the signs were more obvious. There was a picture of me on the mantelpiece of my grandparents' house taken on my 18th birthday and the evidence is there. I'm sure barely anyone else would give it a second look, but I'm always drawn to the outline of my eyebrows whenever I look at it. I hadn't really put the two habits together until recently, but I tend to bite out the hair on the front of my fingers too.
In trichotillomania - or 'trich' - terms, eyebrow pulling is quite common. I suppose in one sense I am lucky because I can use make-up to disguise it. However, many people pull hairs out of their scalp, and those who have done it a lot are often afflicted with bald patches. Some 'pullers' tend to pull out the hair from their armpits or their pubic area. In many cases, pullers are ashamed of their affliction: both punishing themselves for their lack of control over a mindless habit, and feeling embarrassed and self-conscious of their bald patches.
I have done some research into trich and have found that there are many resources available in the US for those who want to overcome this problem. There are some online resources available, such as self-help from an ex-hair puller and forums for people to discuss issues associated with trich. The UK is catching up, albeit slowly. My theory is that people who are afflicted have no idea their problem has a name. I only found out what it was called in the last five years - 10 years or so since I first started pulling my hair. Once people know the name, the internet is there with plenty of information. TV programmes such as Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies have a brief guide as to what it is. Although the NHS has a section on Obsessive Compulsive Behaviour (trich exists on the spectrum of OCD), there isn't anything specific on trich.
My next step is to construct an article and arrange some telephone interviews with others affected by trich and with a medical specialist. Right now, I think the main focus is getting more awareness for the term trichotillomania as I'm sure there are many people out there who have no idea how to define their problem. As Jess suggested, getting an article like this into a women's or health magazine could give the cause some much needed exposure.
I showed signs of tricholtillomania in my late teens. I started to rub my eyebrow hair with my sleeve and found it satisfying when the hairs gathered on my wrist. Soon afterwards, I took to pulling them out with the ends of my fingernails. I would be sitting in front of the TV and before I knew it, I had amassed a little pile of hairs on the end of the remote control. As I began to do it more frequently, the signs were more obvious. There was a picture of me on the mantelpiece of my grandparents' house taken on my 18th birthday and the evidence is there. I'm sure barely anyone else would give it a second look, but I'm always drawn to the outline of my eyebrows whenever I look at it. I hadn't really put the two habits together until recently, but I tend to bite out the hair on the front of my fingers too.
In trichotillomania - or 'trich' - terms, eyebrow pulling is quite common. I suppose in one sense I am lucky because I can use make-up to disguise it. However, many people pull hairs out of their scalp, and those who have done it a lot are often afflicted with bald patches. Some 'pullers' tend to pull out the hair from their armpits or their pubic area. In many cases, pullers are ashamed of their affliction: both punishing themselves for their lack of control over a mindless habit, and feeling embarrassed and self-conscious of their bald patches.
I have done some research into trich and have found that there are many resources available in the US for those who want to overcome this problem. There are some online resources available, such as self-help from an ex-hair puller and forums for people to discuss issues associated with trich. The UK is catching up, albeit slowly. My theory is that people who are afflicted have no idea their problem has a name. I only found out what it was called in the last five years - 10 years or so since I first started pulling my hair. Once people know the name, the internet is there with plenty of information. TV programmes such as Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies have a brief guide as to what it is. Although the NHS has a section on Obsessive Compulsive Behaviour (trich exists on the spectrum of OCD), there isn't anything specific on trich.
My next step is to construct an article and arrange some telephone interviews with others affected by trich and with a medical specialist. Right now, I think the main focus is getting more awareness for the term trichotillomania as I'm sure there are many people out there who have no idea how to define their problem. As Jess suggested, getting an article like this into a women's or health magazine could give the cause some much needed exposure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)