Katy is a 31 year old artist, writer and positive mental health advocate. She aims to help demystify and destigmatise mental illness by sharing her experiences in a frank and open manner. She has an number of complex diagnoses and has recently completed an 18 month course of Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, primarily for Borderline Personality Disorder. In the past she worked in Psychology and Healthcare research and studied Psychology and Art. She is currently taking an extended break from working in order to focus fully on recovery, but she hopes in future to work in mental health advocacy in future.

Katy runs a pro recovery Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/BPDPositiveArts) and a blog giving insight into her own journey through art and writing (www.antiparrot.com).

Katy also writes for several online publications, most notably The Mighty, and recently appeared in a BBC 3 short film in which she used Virtual Reality to depict some of her symptoms.

Katy's videos are linked below from their YouTube home, and in order she describes:

1. Her experiences of distress
2. What has helped or made things worse
3. Her experience of mental health services
4. Her advice to psychologists
5. Her thoughts on the concept of recovery
6. The importance of art in her recovery, and experiences of multiple identities

You will also find Katy's recording for BBC3, and a video with all of her responses combined. Please do view our trigger warning before watching these videos.