Hi, my name is Imogen and I am age 21 and live in York, England. I started Upside Down Chronicles in 2014 to have a dedicated place for my writing. This blog has gone through many transformations as my life has. At first this blog was a place to discuss issues relating to sight loss and the adventures of my assistance dog and I as we explored the world. However, In 2014 after many years of struggling with mental ill health I was admitted to a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service inpatient unit for treatment. I spent a year in two children’s psychiatric units in which I rekindled my love for creativity. I wrote about my time in CAMHS inpatient care on this blog, to try and bring insight into the lives of so many young people who are in psychiatric units today. Creativity saved my life, and I am determined to bring it into the lives of other young people like me.
These days this blog is mostly a resource of information and personal experience of mental illness. I hope that by reading my posts people can feel slightly less alone. I am registered blind, and my posts often link into disability more generally as well as tying into my work as an arts facilitator and artist.
I am a trained Arts Award Adviser and run arts workshops and groups for people of all ages and abilities. These workshops are individually planned to the needs of the participants. So far I have done everything from using Makkaton to sign ‘The Gruffalo’, all the way to creating spoken word poetry.
My own art form mostly revolves around the written word. I perform my own spoken word poetry at local gigs and have been featured at York Literature Festival and York Disability Pride. I also draw cartoon mice which explain various aspects of mental illness, recovery and disability and share them on Instagram. I am currently working as Artist in Residence at York Explore Libraries and Archives as well as volunteering as an arts group assistant at York Mind.