Okay, so I really want to move the focus of my blog away from mental health, but it’s writing about mental health that got me where I am today, so it’s only fair to play tribute to that…

I first started this blog in 2009, unaware (mostly) that I was already at the beginning of what would be a long mental health crisis that would only get worse before it got better.

As my mental health got worse and I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) my writing increased as self-therapy and a way to understand this disorder I hadn’t even heard of until I was labelled with it (I wasn’t getting any help for my problems at this time).

My blog became hugely popular and I even wrote for Mind, the UK mental health charity. Especially as I attempted to return to work after a crisis.

Eventually I got help, paying privately for psychotherapy as I couldn’t get help on the NHS, but writing remained a major outlet for me, and was a huge aid in my recovery.

Writing was a place for me to let off steam, explore my feelings and emotions, so as to better understand them and learn how to cope with them. Coping with emotions is a major factor of BPD.

As I got better my need to write lessened, and I eventually closed down my blog to focus on work and my new relationship. But, I didn’t stop writing, it just became less personal and more pleasure, writing fiction instead of my life.

Of course, then I decided to self-publish my fiction writing and relaunched the blog to support that. I probably should have, and certainly will, publish a book on my mental health journey at some point soon.

In the meantime, I hope to share how writing proved such a valuable, therapeutic, tool for me, and hopefully inspire others to use writing to help them through mental health problems. To do this I’m starting by running a free local workshop on ‘Creative Writing for Mental Health’. I also plan to write more blog posts on this subject, and bring in some guest bloggers who have also used writing to help with their mental health problems. So watch this space for more on this topic! 😊

Do you write about mental health? Had writing helped you through difficult times? Leave a comment to share your story and let me know if you would like to write a guest post on this topic.