I am a mental health advocate, ambassador and peer consultant at the Centre for Mental Health, Vice-Chair of NHS Confed's Mental Health Network, and Expert by Experience Chair of Equally Well UK.

My Fellowship focuses on Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), mental illness, suicide prevention, intervention and postvention, and social inequity and injustices. I will visit the Helping Young People Early (HYPE) programme at Orygen in Melbourne, Australia – clinical, research and knowledge translation model integrated into the national service providing a youth centred early intervention with outstanding outcomes. A different but equally innovative programme at the University of Houston Adolescent Diagnosis Assessment Prevention Treatment Center (UH-ADAPT Center) has created a professional training model for junior clinicians, disseminating evidence-based practice through methods of training.

My personal experience of BPD means I have witnessed stigma at first hand and as a survivor of multiple suicide attempts I am inquisitive about early intervention. Using my national roles I will be able to present my findings to major UK mental health organisations and policy bodies.