Cause for Conversation is a new mental health podcast from Solent Mind. In our latest episode, Rebecca Wright, Team Lead at Solent Recovery College, shares her story and her personal experiences with bipolar disorder.
Sunday 30 March marks World Bipolar Day – an awareness day which aims to raise awareness and understanding about bipolar disorder. In the latest episode of Cause for Conversation, Solent Mind’s mental health podcast, host Jenna Lloyd speaks with Rebecca Wright, Team Lead at Solent Recovery College, about her personal experience with bipolar.
Rebecca was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 27 years ago. Now she’s delivering courses, teaching coping skills, mindfulness techniques and other skills to empower others on their mental health journeys.
Rebecca was diagnosed with bipolar after the birth of her second child following a period of postpartum depression. However, she remembers experiencing intense emotions, creativity, and challenges with emotional regulation for much longer.
Speaking on the podcast, one of Rebecca’s most powerful insights is how she describes her diagnosis: “I have bipolar disorder. I am not bipolar.”
For Rebecca, this distinction is crucial, emphasising that a diagnosis is a part of her life, not her entire identity.
She does however go on to say that being a Peer Trainer with lived experience, helping others on their recovery journey in a professional capacity, is something she really enjoys:
“I love working for something I believe in. It's liberating to have a job or having a mental health diagnosis is actually a requirement. I don't have to hide my diagnosis. I don't have to be my diagnosis. I can be as different as I like, just like everybody else.”
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Rebecca also describes her experience of hypomania - a state of heightened energy, creativity, and impulsivity. She reflects on how this state influenced her past, sometimes leading to incredible productivity but also challenges:
“Hypomania kept popping back up, though it was useful in some ways. I wrote my master's thesis in a single week and built a popular website, all while divorcing my first husband, raising two kids, and working full-time. But while it felt exhilarating, it wasn’t sustainable.”
As Rebecca describes, while high-energy states might look and feel super-productive, they can also lead to exhaustion, burnout or feelings of sadness or shame if they’re not managed.
Rebecca also speaks openly about the role of medication in managing her bipolar. She acknowledges that while it might not the right choice for everyone, for her, it has been vital. While sharing her story on the podcast, Rebecca explains how finding the right medication took time, but now it helps her manage her moods.
She also emphasises that medication alone is not enough - combining her medication with therapy, mindfulness, and lifestyle adjustments has been key to her ongoing recovery.
As Rebecca puts it:
“Medication saved my life, but I always felt as though it was something being done to me. It took time to realise that I had some influence over my own mental health, beyond just taking medication.”
Rebecca highlights the Solent Recovery College definition of recovery – it doesn’t mean a life without symptoms but rather ‘living a fulfilling life with or without them’. The courses that her and her team provide offer practical coping strategies for managing mental health, including:
Another key message from the episode is the importance of self-awareness and support networks. As Rebecca shares:
“Taking ownership of your recovery journey is empowering. No one can ‘fix’ you, but you can learn to help yourself.”
Rebecca and Jenna talk about having a ‘toolkit’ of things in place to help you prepare for more difficult mental health days. They also discuss how it can be helpful to communicate with others around you about what you’re putting in place.
Rebecca says:
“It's important to be able to communicate about yourself. Without that, you're just going to get battered around by circumstance, completely lost. It’s about making some plans, and having things in place when you're well, so they're ready for when you're not."
Rebecca also mentions Wellness Action Plans – a tool that helps employees talk to their managers about mental health and proactively put support in place to help them stay well at work:
“It’s a document that asks me to list what I'm like when I'm well, what I'm like when I'm not well and what are the first signs of me becoming unwell.”
Solent Mind also provides Workplace Wellbeing Training courses that help businesses to feel confident supporting their employees mental health and wellbeing at work.
Many misconceptions exist around bipolar disorder, and Rebecca tackles some of the biggest myths, including:
If you or someone you know is living with bipolar disorder, support is available. Solent Recovery College offers courses like ‘Understanding Bipolar’ and ‘Living with Bipolar’, designed to provide education, coping techniques, and peer support. Some of our wellbeing centres also host bipolar support groups.
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Rebecca’s story is a testament to resilience, and her experiences shed light on the reality of living with a long-term mental health condition. Her advice to those newly diagnosed?
“Knowledge is power. Learn about your condition, connect with others, and take charge of your recovery.”
Listen to the full episode of Cause for Conversation now and join the discussion on breaking the stigma around bipolar disorder.
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For more information about bipolar disorder, please visit mind.org.uk or speak to your doctor or another healthcare professional.
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