Narrative Submissions

The main categories are:

Experiencer Narratives

This is a space where people who have direct lived experience of extreme emotional / mental non-ordinary states can share the story of their journey with the intention of both inspiring and educating others who are just 'setting out' as well as family members and clinicians.

Obviously the hope, is that the hard won treasures you have earned through your journey can be passed on to others so that they don't have to go through the suffering you may have done.

Or at least that their journey will be eased, and they will be better placed to face their own pain and complete their own journey because they are no longer alone in it. They know that others have walked these paths before them.

I am very aware that 'experiencers' means people with very different types of experience. Stories may cover anything from 'spiritual awakening' journeys with rough patches, to adult traumas, to terrible abuse and deprivation journeys to recreational drug or medical drug induced difficulties.

The main thing is that there is a journey toward recovery and a happier life! You have to decide for yourself what recovery means for now. The journey of life is never complete until life is no more.

Nb. This space is not for stories of despair and misery which don't seem to lead anywhere (yet!). For me this simply means that the journey isn't complete and is not ready to be shared with others in need of inspiration. (An exception relates to medication narratives). I am happy to speak with you if you want support: Coaching for Experiencers

Family Member Narratives

This is also a space for family members to share their personal journeys.

How do you survive as a parent with a child going in and out of non-ordinary states, or in an out of psychiatric care? Or as a partner or sibling? Are there positive stories to share out there?

At least in my family, there is a happy ever after ending, but it has been hard earned. My parents had a life journey just as much as I did.

I hope there are many more.

Clinician Narratives

This is also a space for the stories of psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, psychiatric nurses etc. who spend their lives alongside people experiencing extreme states.

What I hope for are stories that will inspire student doctors or young clinicians to look beyond the standard textbooks on their courses and think for themselves how best to help people going through misery or at least ask the questions and look around themselves with open eyes and hearts.

If there are stories of personal frustrations, burnout, limitations of the 'system' etc. perhaps this is valuable for the government to see? Too often, truth is scattered and reality doesn't hit those who need to see it 'very clearly'.

If there are clinicians working in environments where people actually recover and go on to live full or at least good lives long term, it would be great to hear of this (you'll have people queueing outside!). If there aren't any, we should all be looking at this with concern as a nation or world!

If this clinical area grows beyond the relevance of this website, I will create a sister site.

Medication Narratives

For me, it is a crazy world out there, and the 20th and now 21st Centuries enthusiasm for treating emotional and mental pain and imbalance with brain chemistry changing medications is frankly, strange.

A library of genuine experiences may help counter-balance the psychiatric myths that have evolved and challenge the supposed scientific truths of the body of research, mostly influenced by organisations with self-interests.

Stories relating to medication journeys are valuable, even if there is no personal progression, just to inform people of the reality of going down this path. I'm sorry. Life can get very difficult.

Stories of struggling to come off medication are sadly relevant also - I hope we can help. This is most interesting for psychiatrists to read along with accounts of the side-effects!

Stories relating how people have managed to come off psychiatric medications would be great to include. I already know of some, including my own experience and it is not straightforward. The more information there is out there on this, the better.

If there are people with positive stories around medication treatment long term, then it is useful to include them also here. I have heard some from people with 'Bipolar' type issues.

Generally for me, when I hear positive comments on anti-psychotics / tranquiliser medications it means the status quo was too rough for you to do nothing and you weren't offered any better options! Presumably the side-effects were tolerable for you. But I am a pragmatist and certainly there are situations where you just choose the best option you can. It may be valuable for people to hear about your story.

Hopefully it is clear, that this is not an anti-medication website despite my personal experience, but one supporting genuine best care practices, which will continually evolve with our understanding of what a human being in crisis truly needs.

I may create a sister website to host this medication related content if it feels appropriate.

Small Print

Copyright Policies

Submissions will remain your personal copyright and you can add this at the end of the narrative. SensitiveBeing just needs agreement from yourself in the submission email to publish it on the site. This permission can be removed at a later date if things change for some reason.

Likewise SensitiveBeing reserves the right to take down material as it sees fit or even shut down altogether for some sad reason. Right now the website has no funding, and this project could start to become expensive. Thankfully I was a 'broken' computer programmer and internet space isn't too expensive, but bandwidth does cost money, so it will need funding at some stage if the site becomes popular.

As with any copyrighted material, SensitiveBeing may quote from your writing in the journal or elsewhere, or take excerpts and link to the full story. Obviously others can do this also for material in the public domain.

I have no plans to use the material in any other way, but if something important does come up, like some kind of research project by a university, then we will discuss it with the copyright holders. I have no idea on this right now.

I am not a lawyer and simply want to communicate clearly.

Commercial Values

SensitiveBeing has no intention of becoming sponsored by companies in the psychiatric 'industry' and will not commercialise with random targeted advertising etc.

It does already and will continue to offer services to try and help people like coaching or events with myself or others who share the values of the site.

Hopefully at some stage it will evolve into a not for profit organisation.

How to Submit a Narrative

For the moment, submissions will be by email. Just get in touch and discuss your proposal with me to check its okay. Write it as a word document and I'll create a page for it on the site. Feel free to add relevant pictures you have copyright use of.

The quality of the submission is important. People can have valuable stories, but if they are not communicated well, the purpose of touching the reader's life isn't achieved and it detracts from the other material presented on the site.

Length doesn't necessarily matter if the quality is high. Narratives will be presented in the same way as the journal.

The main thing is whether people will read it or not and whether it meets the goals and values of SensitiveBeing as listed above and on the site generally.

Contact me to discuss your Narrative Submission

News / Events

New: Check out my latest narrative essay:

Peaceful Reflections on the Past from 'One Who Got Away'


New: Check out an interview I gave for the Shiatsu Society.

It's on my personal journey developing HeartTouch: Embodied Mindfulness & Compassionate Connection through Touch for anxiety, emotional pain, trauma & psychosis.

The Mountain of Fire


New: Check out my latest video:

City Voices New York Interview


New: Check out my latest essay:

Reflections on the 'here and now' from the perspective of non-ordinary experience.


Check out this essay:

A Letter to the Psychiatric Profession from One Who 'Got Away'


One to One Online 'Mental Health' Wellness Coaching Sessions for Experiencers

These sessions can be in the form of a conversation or a Hara Conditioning coaching or a combination of the two.

I am happy to consider sessions with anyone but am especially interested in supporting people with spiritual crisis, psychosis, trauma or anxiety issues.

Session Fee: £80, Concessions: First session £80, Further sessions £50

Coaching Sessions are for one hour, but may often last up to 1 1/2 hrs if required.

More on SensitiveBeing Coaching Sessions


HeartTouch: Mindfulness & Compassionate Touch Training for Anxiety, Emotional Pain & Trauma.

These workshops are open to people experiencing extreme human states, whether that be labelled as psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar, manic depressive along with people with personal histories of sexual or emotional traumas.

They are also open to people experiencing milder forms of anxiety and emotional pain, however it expresses itself.

This can include co-issues such as addiction or eating disorders, though I would request people to find additional support for the side-issue as this is not part of my experience.

The workshops are also open to people interested in enhancing their capacity to work with people experiencing this kind of distress, whether as a bodyworker, psychotherapist, clinician or family member.

Visit easternpeace.com for more...