The Personal Homepage of Michael Dolphin

The new, updated and revamped personal web site of myself,

Michael Dolphin

Hi and welcome to my new and substantially revised web site. My name is Michael Dolphin, I am 56 year's young and have a life's worth of interests and experiences to share. I am a Yorkshireman, from West Yorkshire (Halifax). I am now living in Belfast. I moved here, 11 years ago, after being a victim of prolonged and intense workplace bullying.

My working background is social work and I managed fostering training departments for two London Local Authorities. Additionally, I worked for a London college, in an employability unit, helping the long term unemployed to get back into work. I also used to be a lifeskills trainer and support worker in London and also used to work for a leaving care team. I was a Community Support Worker in Yorkshire, immediately before moving to Northern Ireland. Currently I am a Mental Health Support Worker, working in a 24-hour supported living scheme for twelve residents who have a substantive mental health diagnosis.

I am a qualified Counsellor and have a great interest in mental health and empowering people to have a better quality of life. My father committed suicide when I was three years old and my mum died in a house fire when I was just nine years old. I was brought up in local authority care for most of my life. I was in 9 foster homes,two children's homes and a board and lodging placement, before moving into my own place when I was seventeen.

In October 2018, I was in hospital for 10 weeks and I was diagnosed with sepsis, had a leaking heart valve, which had to be replaced with a metallic heart valve and I had an 8mm brain aneurysm fixed, as well as having COPD and my body was riddled with infections and I was on an antibiotic drip throughout my hospital stay. Additionally, I had a split spleen and had two blood transfusions. As a result of the heart surgery, I am now on lifelong Warfarin and other medication. Two years earlier, I was in hospital with pneumonia and was diagnosed with Scheuemann's Disease, which means my spine is curved more that it should be and I have muscle wastage in both of my legs. Therefore, the past few years have been extremely challenging from a physical and mental health perspective. Yet, I am still alive and survived some quite scary experiences. It certainly shows you how precious life is and also how valuable it is and that we should not take life for granted. I now focus my energy in making memories and enjoying these with the love in my life.

I am happily in a same sex relationship and we have just celebrated our 8-years being together. In 2023, we finally formalised our relationship and I have to say it was one of the best days of my life. I had been single for about 11 years previously. We are perfect together and have so much of a laugh and banter together. I don't know, how I would have got through the experiences of the past few years, if it was not for Ciaran.

There are eight key areas, that are the focus of this site, as follows:

Meet Ciaran, the love of my life.	Dolphin Section.
I have been in a wonderful relationship with Ciaran, an Irish citizen. Ciaran, is a fantastic person and we have a great partnership, where we can laugh, enjoy banter, as well as deal with some of the historic difficult areas of life, such as workplace bullying, substantive ill-health and loads of other stuff besides. We have had many adventures together and Ciaran makes a brilliant tourist guide showing me the best that Southern and Northern Ireland has to over.	As my name suggests, I like Dolphins. My home is surrounded by dolphin ornaments and related themes/objects. I have also been very fortunate to have swam with Dolphins, quite a few times, both in Florida and in the Algarve. It was the best time ever. There are numerous photo galleries of me with Dolphins, as well as other general Dolphin photo galleries
America.	Holidays and Travel Destinations.
There is quite a large section on my holidays to America. I have been to 17 out of the 50 states. My favourite states, being Florida and California, where I have been to numerous times. Other states, I have been to have included: Arizona. Georgia. Hawaii. Illinois. Michigan. Nevada. New York. Texas. Washington DC. and others. Each State has its own section, which not only houses my vacation pictures, but also the State Flag and the State Theme Song/Music.	As well as America, another favourite, but expensive experiences is general Holiday Travel. I was fortunate to go to such places as: Australia. Canada. South Africa. As well as numerous European destinations. I was also fortunate enough to have done a 5 night Cruise. It was great. When I went to South Africa, I did a Safari and spent numerous nights in a lodge. It was a great experience. More recently, with the help of Ciaran, who is Irish, we have explored most parts of the island of Ireland.
Cult (& Favourite) TV Shows & Films.	Workplace Bullying.
I am a big fan of Nostalgic TV. So many of the programmes made in the late 1970's and the 1980's These programmes include: A Team. Baywatch. Bionic Women. Cagney and Lacey. Charlie's Angels. Hart to Hart. Highway to Heaven. Knight Rider. Murder She Wrote. T J Hooker. Six Million Dollar Man, Touched by an Angel. The above are just a few. Each TV programme, has not only the episode guide and a photo gallery but also the theme tune of each of the TV programmes. In addition to Cult TV, I am also a big superhero fan, especially Spiderman, Superman, The Incredible Hulk and Wonder Women. In relation to the super hero section, I only give details of the original characters/episodes or films, rather than any of the remakes, of which they are many. I also like a number of Serial Drama's including Beverley Hills 90210, The Bill and Dallas. Additionally, I am an addicted Emmerdale and Coronation Street view and have watched these two soaps for as long as I can remember. There, a new section that will soon be developed in the next update will be of these two soaps. I am also a fan of the Disney franchise and again, a section is being developed to pay homage to the particular films I like.	I was a victim of intense Workplace Bullying, at my last workplace, in Huddersfield. As a result, I am making it my life's work to campaign get workplace bullying known about, to make it an offence to abuse people in work and to support victims of workplace bullying. I spent several years developing a Workplace Bullying Resource Centre and my plan was to work in this area of work. However, Covid and the subsequent lockdowns gave me the space to re-evaluate various things. As a result of this I returned back to the work force. However, because of the all the effort I put into this project, many of the resources I developed are now incorporated into this site.
Mental Health	My Work, Including Peer Support
As a qualified Counsellor, I am a keen mental health advocate. However this interest, isn't just about my qualification, but it is also because of my personal life experience, including: My life in care. I spent the majority of my life growing up in local authority care, I was sexually abused during my time in care by a particular foster family. I was in a domestic abuse relationship, some 15 years ago. I was a victim of a severe case of Workplace Bullying. As a result, I am becoming a Workplace Bullying Campaigner and Ambassador. Therefore, I have had a difficult life in some areas and therefore, my interest in mental health arose because of my experience. Even before, my training, I used to be a volunteer for Samaritans and Victim Support, as well as numerous other roles.	There is a good section on my work and related areas. Including more recent areas of work, as a result of my experiences of workplace bullying. For example, I have developed an interest in Peer Support and Education and for a while I was a Peer Educator for a Recovery College. I have also done some extensive research on Peer Support and Co-Production. The section on the left, highlight the life experiences and earlier mental health struggles which has drawn me to this area of work. I have, in my previous working history had a number of years being freelance and offering and developing lifeskills workshops. I am still keen to continue to offer training, consultancy and workshops on mental health, lifeskills and workplace bullying. I have a lot of professional skills and expertise, as well as lived experiences. Job roles I have had included: Leaving Care Team Project Worker. Employment Trainer and Employment Support Worker. I managed the Fostering and Adoption Training Service of two London Authorities. Senior Peer Educator. Mental Health Support Worker for a 24 hour supported living scheme.