Pixies: Where is My MInd?

Track of the Week - 22 May 2016

I took a couple of days out of my usual schedule this week to do something very different. I went on a Mental Health First Aid course with Swindon Mind.

They're affiliated to Mind, the leading mental health charity for England and Wales and the team at Swindon Mind provide advice, support and services to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem in Swindon and campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding.

The Mental Health First Aid course helps people to:

• Spot the early signs of a mental health problem
• Feel confident helping someone experiencing a problem
• Provide help on a first aid basis
• Help prevent someone from hurting themselves or others
• Help stop a mental illness from getting worse
• Help someone recover faster
• Guide someone towards the right support
• Reduce the stigma of mental health problems

It's a very interesting course. Challenging and draining at times too (well we were discussing, depression, self-harm, suicide and psychosis among other things) but it was a very worthwhile couple of days. If all I do after it is change a few people's perceptions about people with mental health challenges and advise people on how to look after themselves to avoid any issues I will still consider it time very well spent.

So, I know my Mind is in Swindon. If you're not from near there you can find out where your Mind is by using this map.

As for Where is My Mind? by Pixies - it's a brilliant track from their 1988 album Surfer Rosa (which inspired Kurt Cobain's writing on Nevermind). It's now regarded as one of their signature songs and has been used in plenty of films, adverts and television programmes and is one of the band's most-covered tracks.