BPD – We Love Puppies Too

My EUPD Journey

Nadia blogs about her journey of being diagnosed with EUPD (also known as BPD), learning coping techniques, and helping others to find their own coping strategies by volunteering, speaking, and teaching.

Nadia is a mental health advocate and passionate about sharing her own mental heath experience to bring hope, positivity and awareness. Follow Nadia on Instagram at instagram.com/the_mind_mentor

My passion is to share my own lived experience of mental health to bring hope, positivity, understanding and awareness. I realised my passion and purpose in life and made steps to make this a reality.

In the last four years, I have co-led courses at the Greater Manchester Mental Health Trusts Recovery Academy as a volunteer. I am now also a qualified public speaker; I use my voice to talk about my passion. I am also currently studying to be a Mindfulness Teacher. Mindfulness has really helped me in recovery. When difficult thoughts or emotions come to me, instead of reacting like I used to with my old coping mechanisms, I sit with how I am feeling, take time to understand what’s really going on, and accept how I am feeling and let my emotion out in a healthy way.

Recovery for me is a never ending journey of growing pains. The transformation of “becoming” can be painful but coming home to ourselves is worth it, it’s what we deserve.

This is why I’m glad I was finally diagnosed with borderline personality disorder

For 15 years I struggled with paranoia, trust issues and a fear of abandonment – and doctors continuously fobbed me off with diagnoses and tablets that didn’t seem to fit.

People always tell you to trust your gut. They always say that if you get a feeling about something, you’re usually right. Well, I always had a gut feeling that I was different.

Beth Rees is a Time to Change Wales champion. Time to Change Wales is a campaign run by Mind Cymru and Hafal, and aims to increase awareness of mental health problems.

Borderline personality disorder in the workplace

After experiencing a lack of support at work, Beth became a champion for workplace mental health.

Then I became a Time to Change Wales champion. I started bringing in information to leave around the office and suggested in several meetings that they have some staff trained in mental health first aid. After a few years they decided to do this and I was lucky enough to be trained through New Pathways on their SURE for Mental Health course. I have since left the charity that trained me and they now have mental health champions in the workplace, which makes me really proud.

As for me, I’ll be carrying on raising awareness through my personal blog and at work, to ensure more people can talk openly about their mental health.

Meet Sue Wheatcroft, winner of the 2019 Janey Antoniou Award

Sue is a campaigner and group coordinator who lives with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). She has made a huge difference on both a local and national level and the judges felt she exemplified what the Janey award is about – challenging stigma and creating change for people living with mental illness.

It is important that you are passionate about the cause for which you are campaigning. It will be hard work and the sense of responsibility can give you sleepless nights sometimes, but every success, however small, can give you the greatest feeling in the world.

Overcoming My Labels of “Drama Queen” and “Disabled”

My mental health struggle began when I was diagnosed with epilepsy at age nine. Epilepsy is (perhaps understandably) considered to be a disability, but the effects of being labeled “disabled” at such an early age changed my life. I was immediately treated differently.

I plan on providing the same help I was lucky enough to receive to others by becoming a licensed therapist. I want to tell those who are struggling the same thing that saved me: you are not alone, and you are not “crazy.” You are worthy of unconditional love and belonging.

From service user to staff member: Katie’s journey

As a teenager, Katie was detained in a psychiatric hospital and supported by an Advocate from Rethink Mental Illness. Two decades later, she is helping others in her role as Associate Director for Community Services, with the very charity which supported her.

I felt excited to be coming into a job role where I could help people affected by mental illness as I knew from my own experiences how difficult it is for people on their recovery journey. I was even happier that I was able to come to work for a charity who had helped me in one of the difficult points in my life.

My Lifelong Journey with Borderline Personality Disorder

Growing up, I didn’t know I had borderline personality disorder (BPD). But I knew something was “wrong.” Throughout my childhood and young adult years, I had unstable relationships with friends and family. I was always labeled as “emotional,” and I was quick to anger…

I am majoring in psychology with the hopes of getting my PhD. I would like to become a professor and educate students about mental health conditions, hopefully creating a safe space for those struggling. I would also like to become an advocate for mental health awareness.

I remember vividly at school in Year 5 playing on the monkey bars and thinking to myself, “I just want to live a life where I’m not nervous all the time”

I remember vividly at school in Year 5 playing on the monkey bars and thinking to myself, “I just want to live a life where I’m not nervous all the time”.

The reason I volunteer as a Community and School Presenter with the Black Dog Institute is because I have a clear objective to help as many people as I can avoid going through the struggles I have.