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by Jennifer Harvey

You may rue that week sheltering in a caravan, but for vulnerable people such a break is too often seen as an unnecessary luxury

Everybody's going on holiday. Their worries will include the weak pound, the weather or how much their work will pile up while they're away.
But for some people even a rainy week in a caravan on the coast is an unattainable dream. If you need support to go on holiday, the cost can be prohibitive. You may have a support package for daily living but funding for holidays will be hard to come by and may mean giving up support deemed "none essential" at other times.

Jennifer Harvey reflects on how living in the community with a mental health problem can see people isolated and shunned

You wouldn't want to be John. Living alone in a run-down council flat, up a steep hill from the bus stop, a laborious 10-minute challenge to his arthritic knees.
There's never a friendly word from a neighbour. They either hammer on the door and complain at his screams of anguish and frustration, or they're so scared they keep well out of the way and call the housing department.

by Jennifer Harvey

Been asked to go ballroom dancing recently? Or engage in wartime reminiscences? A tad insulting if you are in your fifties...

Growing older is not so bad when you consider the alternatives; but as a fairly fit, active, working fifty-something I feel a bit patronised by the types of activities aimed at the over-50s.  
Why do we need nifty-fifties at the gym when we'd have no trouble keeping up with the McDonald's generation of young adults? And ballroom dancing for the over-fifties - by my calculation, someone who's 50 would have grown up with punk not quickstep, but then Strictly Come Dancing and its spin-offs have a lot to answer for.