Thanks to Mind, I now feel I can get through anything
This Mental Health Awareness Week, Kayleigh, who has borderline personality disorder, reveals how she was helped by us and why she’s so angry at the state of the mental health system.
As a young person trying to learn about the mental health system, it was very confusing. Mental health is not taught in schools. Teachers should be talking about mental health to young children and teenagers in school, so they're not as confused.
"I would say talk to everyone – friends, family, a supportive teacher. Say ‘Hey, this is going on and I need some help’. Always, always reach out."
Through this they’d be able to access coping mechanisms and understand mental health before they become adults. This way it doesn’t spiral out of control, which is what happened to me. I remember feeling so confused as a teenager. I have borderline personality disorder (BPD) and was finally diagnosed at the age of 19, and that mixed with adolescence and hormones was explosive.
For anyone struggling right now, I would say talk to everyone – friends, family, a supportive teacher. Say ‘Hey, this is going on and I need some help.’ Always, always reach out.
Without Mind, I think I would be dead. The way my local NHS crisis team handled me was so disappointing. I was manic and psychotic, and when I'm like that, I see and hear things that can be terrifying.
“I spoke to someone at Swansea Mind, and he was absolutely amazing. I felt he understood me as he’d gone through it himself.”
I then went in and I spoke to someone at Swansea Mind, and he was absolutely amazing. He said, ‘Look at my scars. I've been there, I've done it’. I felt he understood me as he’d gone through It himself.
I was given a contact for a private counsellor that specialises in BPD. Although money is tight for me, It turned out I could get 8 funded sessions with him due to where I live. I’ve just started having therapy with the NHS after being on the waiting list since 2020. Now I feel like I can get through anything. I can understand my emotions better and how to control them in a healthy way. It's been a huge help.
It makes me angry that there are so many people waiting for mental health services. It's so hard to get help. All I was offered was, ‘Oh, we can put you on the list for this’. when I needed urgent crisis care. I needed to be put in a hospital and looked after.
“We want people to have a say on the support they get. People are losing their lives because they’re not getting the help they need.”
There's a lot of things I'd like to say to the Prime Minister… first of all, there’s a mental health crisis. You need to take a step back and see what you’re doing when you talk about the “sick note culture” and suggest that people with mental health problems are “over medicalising the every day challenges and worries of life.”
Stop giving us tick-box questions. We just want you to be real with us. We want people to have a say on what medication they have and the support they get. Things need to change. People are losing their lives because they’re not getting the help they need.
Listen to us. Listen to what we are saying. Listen to what Mind and other mental health charities are saying. The Government needs to listen to us and they’re certainly not doing so at the moment.
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Information and support
When you’re living with a mental health problem, or supporting someone who is, having access to the right information - about a condition, treatment options, or practical issues - is vital. Visit our information pages to find out more.
Share your story with others
Blogs and stories can show that people with mental health problems are cared about, understood and listened to. We can use it to challenge the status quo and change attitudes.
