I woke up and the loud shouting of the two voices had subsided to mere whispers. My friend was asleep laying next to me. I am not sure of what I did but she started to wake up. I remember at some point during the night before going off to sleep she was able to get into my phone and call my parents and give them an update of what was happening with me. My mum was making her way up to Birmingham and it was snowing heavily. All the memories of the day before started to come back to me and again I was in a state of tears. The feeling of embarrassment governed me.
My mum got to Birmingham and popped into a taxi and was at my friend’s house, almost at the same time as the social worker, his student and a psychiatrist. I remember being in the bedroom when all of these people entered the house. The only familiar faces was my mum and my friend and deep down I knew that I would not be taken to a mad house. They all promised that I needed some rest and the best thing to do was to take me to a centre where I was able to do just that. They all left and then it was just my mum my friend and me. We sat in the living room which had an open planned kitchen and each had a cup of tea. My mum and friend made small talk while I watched the snow fall from the sky. My mum made some comments about the amount of snow in Birmingham was much more than what had fallen in London.
Soon enough it was time for me to go to this new place. I don’t remember much about the voices at this point, I just remember going into Sterling Lodge for the first time. It was a restpite. This was a large house that had around 5 bedrooms for people that was in a crisis which was linked to the house next door which had the exact same layout. I was taken up to meet the members of staff that worked there who I would need to call upon if I needed anything.
Later that day I’m not sure how much later my mum had returned to London and I was able to get into my house to collect some clothes. It was the social worker that took me back to my house and I remember him saying that if my mum didn’t come up to Birmingham I would have been admitted to hospital. We spoke briefly about smoking cheese and how I should stay away from it in future
The Bipolar in me 