Proving You’re Struggling: When Asking for Help Becomes Another Battle

February 10, 2026.Reading time 7 minutes.

There’s something deeply wrong with a system where people have to prove their pain before they’re allowed support. Not explain it.Not share it.Prove it. With paperwork.With evidence.With repeated retelling of the worst moments of their lives. For many people, asking for help doesn’t bring relief.It brings another exhausting fight. The Paperwork of Survival If you’ve […]

Living with Trauma: It’s Not Just in the Past

August 12, 2025.Reading time 5 minutes.

We don’t always know when trauma begins — sometimes it’s one moment, one event that changes everything. Other times, it’s drip-fed over years. Not loud. Not dramatic. Just a slow erasing of safety. At the Mark Hewitson Foundation, we work with people who’ve lived through all kinds of trauma — grief, assault, abandonment, illness, violence, […]

Grief Doesn’t Ask For Permission

August 3, 2025.Reading time 4 minutes.

Grief isn’t polite. It doesn’t wait for the right moment or show up in neat stages. It crashes in when you least expect it. Or sits quietly in your bones for days. Sometimes it hits like a wave. Other times it’s background noise — dull, heavy, always there. People like to talk about “closure” or […]