This time I have the most exciting update ever – I did it! I actually submitted my PhD thesis to my examiners!
My defense Viva is booked for the end of May where I will be questioned and critiqued. I’ll have the opportunity to discuss my project with an interested and captive audience. It’s a scary prospect but I’m also quite excited! For now, I can have some time out!
Celebration!
Of course I celebrated at the weekend! I went away for the night with Joe (my husband) who deserves huge acknowledgement for his encouragement, patience and ongoing support living with me through this whole experience to date. He has helped me through the emotional highs and lows, and always been available for technical support or to read through my writing when I could no longer see straight! We definitely deserved our treats of the spa, facials, steak and wine.
Sharing – mental ill-health in ageing
The weekend was not all just for fun though. I was privileged to be able to speak as part of a Lent series at St. Paul’s and St. Peter’s church, Great Missenden about Mental Health and Human Flourishing in ageing. Actually, for me, it just continued the fun!
I loved being able to use my knowledge and experience from the PhD process, as well as my clinical practice, to teach and encourage people who are facing the challenge of mental ill-health in ageing – either themselves or through caring for loved ones. The response after my talk was overwhelming, with people opening up to me about real life, honest, issues. I was touched that people felt they could ask personal questions and honoured to be able to offer what I could to support them.
The slides from my talk can be browsed below, or downloaded here.
In summary; I highlighted 3 key areas where mental ill-health can become a problem in ageing: dementia, delirium and depression. The ‘3 Ds’, as they are referred to, can present remarkably similarly. They also often overlap, one leading to another or making another worse. I’m planning to do another blog post soon to expand on this topic, but in the mean time feel free to browse the slides and also go to https://www.islandhealth.ca/ and search ‘3Ds’ or ‘delirium’ for lots of resources great which help differentiate between the 3 Ds of mental health in ageing.