Westcountry Family Wellness

20/06/2026

When the Authorities target the wrong people...

Our barrister friend, Paul Powlesland from Garden Court Chambers is being investigated after large quantities of rubbish were cleared from a polluted river, apparently without the ‘necessary permit’. The authorities say permits exist to protect waterways and prevent unintended environmental harm. Powlesland argues that he was doing work that public bodies had failed to carry out despite repeated requests.

Time and again, those who speak up, challenge the status quo, or take action to improve their communities find themselves facing scrutiny from the very authorities that are supposed to serve and protect the public.

Here in Cornwall, many people we know are local litter campaigners who spend countless unpaid hours clearing rubbish from our streets, beaches and countryside. One such person is Ruth Major (Rubbish Ruth) from Redruth, whose commitment to keeping our environment clean has inspired many others.

We believe the exercise of prosecutorial and enforcement powers must always be proportionate, fair and focused on the public interest. Investigating someone for clearing rubbish, is not.
Public confidence is undermined when campaigners and volunteers appear to be treated as the problem rather than part of the solution, in a ‘victim blame’ culture.

At Cornwall Legal Centre CIC, we believe that power must always be exercised fairly, proportionately and in the public interest. Those fighting for cleaner communities, greater accountability and social justice deserve support - not suspicion. Paul is a Hero, not an Offender

Extinction Rebellion Ruth Major Former Town Councillor Zoe Young, Falmouth Arwenack

20/06/2026

I have updated one of the oldest - but also most useful - blog posts on my site.

Nearly 25 years ago, I wrote about the BRAN analysis in the first edition of What's Right For Me?

Since then, the acronym has expanded into several different versions. It has come to be used by thousands of women and families, and is taught and shared by midwives and birth workers around the globe.

My blog post is short and simple. It explains what the acronym is, how it can be used, and I offer a link to my book for those who want more information to help them navigate maternity care.

And now it has had a spring clean, and been made a shiny new picture!

Read it at https://www.sarawickham.com/questions-and-answers/what-is-the-bran-analysis/

And please share it with anyone who you think might find it useful.

20/06/2026

The countdown has begun to The Body Myth, out in just 3 weeks time!

On my substack today, I've introduced a new word: matriflux.

I coined it whilst writing The Body Myth, because I did not feel there was a term to describe the constant cycling, changing and shapeshifting that women, and only women, experience across our lifetimes.

Matri comes from the Latin and means not just ‘relating to mothers’, but also ‘relating to women’; flux from the Latin ‘to flow’. I felt a word was missing to describe this unique experience, the monthly cycle that most of us experience between menarche (our first period) and menopause, but also the wider, ever-shifting nature of being female: the blossoming of puberty; the epic physical changes of pregnancy; the seismic adaptations of motherhood; the mystery of breast milk; the upheaval of perimenopause; the upgrade of menopause, and the final crowning as we become elders. Not all women will experience all of these, but most of us will understand them as part of our physical potential, powers that belong to us as women and to women alone. Some of us will use our energy in other ways, creating projects as well as or instead of babies, and mothering them into life. All of us understand that to be female is a shapeshifting journey that men do not share.

Read more via my substack or preorder the book to receive it on publication day.

https://millihill.substack.com/p/introducing-the-matriflux-a-key-idea

Everyone who preorders will be invited to a unique online event hosted by me on the 19th July. All you have to do is email me your proof of purchase. More details in my latest substack post.

19/06/2026

Too cute 😂 i remember when Hols made me a card telling me she was epiclee orsome 😂

18/06/2026

This week, I was featured in the Daily Mail's Health Supplement, in a piece about gadolinium, the contrast dye used in up to half of all MRI scans.

For years, those of us who felt our health collapse after an MRI were told it was stress, anxiety, or imagination. Normal labs, end of conversation. This week, a national newspaper printed it as news instead.

I told them what I have come to believe after my own MRI in 2016, and after meeting so many of you:

"Gadolinium doesn't just take your health, it takes your life as you knew it."

It's a great and very balanced piece that was extremely well researched and written. But, like everything in life, it's not perfect. It quotes a radiologist saying gadolinium has "helped and diagnosed millions." It is a reassuring number. It is also one that, when you go looking for the research, is nowhere to be found. What the studies actually measure is how often the contrast adds nothing. In one paediatric study, gadolinium revealed something not otherwise visible in 0.18% of patients. In prostate MRI, three-quarters did not need it at all, with no loss of accuracy.

If you have lived this, you are not imagining it, and you are not alone. I have written the whole thing up, sources and all, on the blog. Link in the comments. 🔗

If you want a place to start making sense of your own story, my free MRI Contrast Guide is there too.

17/06/2026

100% movement exploration risk all grows a healthy brain

17/06/2026