To The Cat Who Made Me A Mum For the First Time... on the 8th Anniversary of Her Death

Dear Dolly,

I can't believe it's been eight years since I last heard your pink spotty collar jingle! The same collar my Mum encouraged me to buy whilst still a psychiatric hospital inpatient so that I could always remember you were my recovery goal whenever I felt myself losing my grip on my motivation. And I still can't find the words to describe just how much it meant to finally see it around your neck for four years!

Having a Mum who very clearly illustrated unconditional love for me in every moment of my life meant that this was actually something I looked forward to being able to show myself. When my mental health deteriorated, I became so focused on all these unsafe coping strategies that I felt my heart turn cold and dark and I honestly worried I'd never have the capability to show unconditional love. I thought I was so broken and that no one would ever want to get close enough to me anyway for me to be able to develop that bond and connection. But then I reached recovery and I brought you home!'

What Do Professionals Think of Gracie's Way? | A Professional Review of A Resource | by Emma Yoxall, Professional Ambassador

  

I’ve recently had the opportunity to the review the Gracie’s Way resource: A Professional’s Guide to The PBAP (which you can read about: https://www.graciesway.co.uk/p/a-professionals-guide-to-pbap.html)...

Gracie’s Way X Eli Gardner| Read A Book Day 2026

“This book is for anyone who has loved and lost an animal... Let me help you to find them again, through this story.”

Eli Gardner 

At the end of July, Gracie's Way received a follow on Instagram from indie Author; Eli Gardner, and I decided to check out her profile (@abrakadabraink). When I discovered she had written a book which included discussion of the topic pet bereavement and that she uses her book sales to fund animal rescue, I immediately DM’d her to say thanks and then asked if she’d like to collaborate. I give some brief descriptions of Gracie’s Way, and I’m NOT Disordered and offered to put together a proper collaboration pitch if she was interested, but she actually agreed to the collaboration without me doing so! In our talks to determine exactly what shape the collaboration would take, Eli very kindly gifted me a personalised copy of the book as well as sending a lot more copies with the plan of running a giveaway on both I’m NOT Disordered and Gracie’s Way! For my favourite quote from the book and how i relate to it, check out the blog post over on www.imnotdisordered.co.uk... And now, the plan for this article – for Read A Book Day 2026 – is that there’s a Q&A with Eli and then guidance of entering the giveaway...

A HUGE GUIDE TO THE FOUR IMPACTS PET BEREAVEMENT HAS ON YOUR MENTAL HEALTH | IN COLLABORATION WITH PAWFECT PICCIES | NATIONAL GRIEF AWARENESS DAY 2026

 

35% Discount Code: IMNOTDISORDERED or use the link below to have it automatically applied to your basket: 

https://pawfectpiccies.etsy.com?coupon=IMNOTDISORDERED

PawfectPiccies - Etsy UK

@PawfectPiccies on Instagram

Pawfect Piccies on Facebook

“Legacy is not leaving something for people. It's leaving something in people.”

Peter Strople

A little while ago, I published a short Q&A about my upcoming – at that time – appearance on BBC Radio Newcastle (you can read the blog post: A SHORT Q&A ABOUT MY UPCOMING RADIO APPEARANCE | I'm NOT Disordered) but something I didn’t mention was the efforts I was going to in order to decide what to wear for it. And I realise it sounds strange to care about my outfit when it’s a radio appearance(!), but I knew there’d be photos being taken for both my social media and for theirs too. So, I knew I wanted something special rather than just another jumper and it was whilst I was on Instagram, that I saw an advert for a company adding pet photos to clothing and inspired by the ad, I ended up finding Pawfect Piccies on Etsy. To find out about my BBC appearance (which you can listen to on my YouTube channel: youtube.com/@aimes_wilson/videos), why it became the ultimate illustration of encouraging talk about pet bereavement because of the recognition of the positive impact that can have on your mental health, and for more details on the collaboration side of this blog post with Pawfect Piccies and photos of my t-shirt from their store (you can purchase the exact same one: Custom Pet T-shirt Dog Drawing From Photo Portrait T-shirt Personalized Dog Pullover Custom Cat T-shirt Dog Mum Gift Dog Lover Shirt - Etsy UK and use the discount code IMNOTDISORDERED at the checkout for 35% off the final cost of your Pawfect Piccies haul!), keep reading…

5 Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Coping Skills to Help in Pet Bereavement

"The attempt to escape from pain is what creates more pain."

Gabor Maté

DBT is typically intended to help with intense emotions and those struggling with emotional regulation so, whilst it wasn't specifically designed for pet bereavement, it is obviously incredibly relevant and appropriate to use the skills taught in it, as a tool for coping with your loss and grief. Here are the five DBT skills that I find most useful for my own experiences of pet bereavement...'

When Grief Feels Like Trauma: Understanding Our Reactions to Loss | by Sophie Bolam, CBT Therapist & Mental Health Nurse

                                        The Website: https://www.sophiebolamcbt.co.uk/

Contact Sophie: https://www.sophiebolamcbt.co.uk/contact 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophiebolamcbt/

Facebook: Sophie Bolam CBT

Grief is something almost all of us will experience, yet no two people experience it in quite the same way. We expect sadness after losing someone we love, but many people are caught off guard by everything else that can come with it. Anxiety, guilt, exhaustion, numbness, poor concentration, irritability, or the feeling of being constantly on edge can leave us wondering whether what we’re experiencing is still “just grief”.

Ways You Can Use a Notebook with All the Gracie’s Way Resources | Featuring Papier

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”

Anais Nin

I’m overjoyed to finally be able to share this post (and video on the Gracie's Way Instagram: @GraciesWayUK) with you all of my newest, personalised Papier notebook (you can purchase the exact same on: https://www.papier.com/enchanted-56264). Notebooks have always been important to me, but I think they’re even more useful since creating Gracie’s Way because I’m currently creating content for both the project’s website and Instagram as well as for my own social media and my mental health blog. And I fully believe that organisation is key to minimising any experience of stress or confusion or just having the thought that you’ve taken on too much at once. So, to publicise the amazing quality Papier products, I thought I’d put together this article on ways to use a notebook alongside every single resource (for both bereaved owners and professionals), just click on the subheading to read more and find out how to order your free PDF copy…