*This post mentions suicide. No details. Please don't read if it might be upsetting for you.* I thought about writing various things for World Suicide Prevention Day (or month) this year. I wrote something on my personal social media, and about an hour later, I deleted it. I thought about writing a few things across a few different contexts, but for each of these I didn't go ahead. There were lots of reasons for my decision to not share. Suicide is very, very complex and, und

I recently enjoyed being interviewed by Abigial Brown from Half Baked Mental Health Collective on Substack. I shared how stigma affected my confidence to speak openly, why writing is important to me and the immense shame that is very common amongst people with the BPD diagnosis. You can read the full interview here. Over time, through writing, speaking, creativity, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, and other therapies, I unraveled those threads. I examined each of them and how t

In the 1980s, patient Patsy Hage collaborated with her psychiatrist, Marius Romme, on understandings of voice hearing. In 1987, they appeared together on Dutch TV sharing their work and launching a hotline for people who heard voices to call in and talk about their experiences. That same year, the first congress was held for people who hear voices. It led to the launch of Foundation Resonance in Utrecht, the first ever National Hearing Voices Network. There are now numerous s

Join me, Rosie, for online journalling sessions on Sunday evenings throughout August 2nd, 9th & 16th August at 7.00pm, UK time. These free online sessions are be an opportunity to write in the company of people who experience emotions that feel overwhelming, relational sensitivity and the challenges of living in a world that doesn't always understand your needs (or recognise your strengths). Each session includes a handful of reflective journalling prompts to help you explore

Recently I encountered 'The short instructional manifesto for relationship anarchy' by Andie Nordgren and, oh my goodness, how I needed to read this! This short text, published in Swedish as “Relationsanarki i 8 punkter” by Interacting Arts in 2006, can be read in its translated/adapted form in English online at The Anarchist Library. If you're interested in 'doing' relationships on your terms— the terms that work for you and the people you love— then this could be a deeply v

Having more — and more nuanced — stories and representations matters to me. Having published two books exploring stigmatised lived experiences, I want to support other writers navigating the complex emotional and relational questions that may arise when writing about lived experience — particularly experiences that face stigma, including (but not limited to) mental health difficulties. Questions such as: • How much do I want to disclose and how can I do this in a way that wor

Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to be invited to present a webinar to National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder (NEABPD) Family Connections™. I was asked if I wanted to speak after my podcast episode with 'All In The Mind' aired on the Australian Broadcasting Company. NEABPD are a brilliant organisation based in Australia. They provide education for people experiencing the emotional dysregulation and struggles associated with the BPD diagnosis, as

I tell my stories and share my experiences because I believe my silence perpetuates ongoing harms. I speak up and I speak out because, most of the time, I feel I can and, all of the time, I feel I should. I am me and I want to carry my lived experiences of mental health problems as bridges and not burdens. Stories matter. Their type and their number. The more nuanced and individualised stories that are heard about lived experiences, the richer the narratives become. Mental he

I'm excited that my new book, The Talking About BPD Workbook: Reflections and Creative Prompts for Exploring Your Life with a Diagnosis of BPD, has finally hit the shelves! I started writing the book way back in December 2023 and, as of a few weeks ago, it's been in the hands of eager readers. That feels amazing. It's is a reflective and exploratory workbook for exploring things like your identity, relationships, emotions, diagnosis and experiences of stigma. It's ideal for a

It's going to be impossible to write a reflection on 2025, but I'm going to try. It will be scattered and incomplete, especially given how tired I am right now. Regardless of what emerges in this post, this blog offers —imperfectly and messily— a record of some of my thinking from the course of the year. Posts like 'Nearly a third of Adults not comfortable sharing a diagnosis with a friend. Here's Why I Share', 'What If This Diagnosis Were To Be Creatively (Generously, even A