Topic Tuesday // BPD Awareness Week 2021 – Discover Creative Wellbeing // Tues 5th October, 7pm-8:30pm AEDT

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Hi SANE community!

The 1st to 7th of October 7th, 2021 is Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness week. In line with this year’s BPD Awareness week’s theme on Discover Creative Wellbeing, this fortnights Topic Tuesday will be building upon last years campaign which identified gaps in treatment programs for those living with BPD and will be discussing creative ways, outside of traditional therapy, to promote wellbeing for those living with BPD and supporting their recovery. Our special guests will include DBT clinician from NEABPD Family Connections and our community guide, @BPDSurvivor!  

This year's campaign has a 3-pronged approach that looks to address gaps for people experiencing the symptoms of BPD, for supporters/carers/families of people living with BPD and for those working professionally with people living with BPD; and asks us to think outside the box in terms of treatment practices, methods and recovery. 

Please join us here on Tuesday 5th October 2021 from 7:00pm-8:30pm AEST to discover and discuss about creative ways to support the wellbeing of those living with BPD.

Want to receive a reminder on the night? Hit the 'Support' button below.

New to the forums or want to get involved in this discussion? Check out the How To Guide for Topic Tuesdays.

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Hi @Clawde @Fluttershy1 @c90coops @tessg306 @EarthAngel3 @Scarlet72 @May22 @RedHorse @frog @Jacques @Cherry @Shaz51 @BlueBay @Cpd @Sleepy_Catcoon @evibaci !

Our Topic Tuesday discussion on BPD Awareness: Discover Creative Wellbeing will begin shortly if you'd like to join us here 

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Tonight we will be joined by our community guide, @BPDSurvivor, and a special guest, @KirstyNEABPD, from NEABPD Family Connections. We'd love to hear more about you both and your backgrounds 

For those of you who are joining tonight, we would love to hear from you what you are most interested in hearing tonight too 

This topic will revolve around experiences living with BPD and supporting those living with BPD. If at any time you are experiencing distress, or would like to seek further support, SANE's Help Centre is open until 10pm tonight. If you are new to Topic Tuesday, you can find our how to guide here. We also encourage members to review the community guidelines to ensure that we can keep this space safe and supportive for all of us to share and learn together  

[KirstyNEABPD]

Hello Everyone! My name is Kirsty and I am an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, have worked in Government Community Mental Health since 2013 and passionate about working with people with BPD. I am currently in my dream role as DBT Coordinator in a community mental health team in South Australia. In my own time, I advocate, educate and support those with BPD as well as their families, on the Steering Committee for National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder Australia (NEABPD) and a Family Connections Leader since 2015. This insight working with families and support people of those with BPD, has been invaluable to remember that families and people in the lives of those with BPD can learn skills themselves to not only help themselves, but also have a huge impact on their loved one and as a result go on to improve their relationships and their lives. We don’t exist in a vacuum, we are always interacting with our environment, and we have control over what we do within that environment.

[BPDSurvivor]

Good Evening everyone from all over Australia!

It's great to be here tonight. As many you know, I’ve been around the forums for a few years as a Community Guide, with a strong focus on discussions surrounding Borderline Personality Disorder.

As someone diagnosed with BPD for well over a decade, I have felt the stigma, yet have also had the opportunity to taste recovery. I was once living to die; but now, things have changed so that I am dying to live! Now, it is my desire that the stigma surrounding BPD is actively being reduced so that people with BPD can better access the treatment and life they deserve.

[BPDSurvivor]

Over here @Shaz51 @ShiningStar @HenryX @BlueBay @Meowmy 

@The-Hams ! Waiting for you 

[Daisydreamer]

Tagging those online who might be interested to join our discussion tonight for BPD Awareness Week 🙂 

@Arizona @ArtistZ @Emelia8 @HenryX @Historylover @Jacques @Former-Member @Meowmy @Millieme @Sophia1 @greenpea @nursemebabe @oceangirl 

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Question 1.

What are the gaps in therapy for people living with BPD?

[Sophia1]

Hello @Daisydreamer 

Thank you

This has not worked for me before...I read the first email and hopefully I have mastered how to now

I will not be able to stay to long

Sophia

[BPDSurvivor]

Question 1.

I have been fortunate enough to have completed 18 months of Mentalization-Based Therapy through Spectrum Personality Disorder Service Victoria. However, they have such a small intake that many miss out.

This is an immense gap in itself. I know in Victoria alone, there are about 60,000 people with BPD, yet it is estimated that only 5000 in total receive any sort of treatment.

I guess individuals who don’t get specialised BPD treatment are forced to either go without treatment, or to go through other more conventional treatments which may help on a surface level, but do not tackle the root of the issue.

In therapy, in particular BPD therapy, it is important that it is person-centred. My desire is for all clinicians and mental health workers to be trained to support people with personality disorders as its treatment varies greatly from those for other mental health illnesses. Treatment for BPD does not rest on medication – rather, it rests on psychotherapies.

I hope that one day, people with BPD who reach out for support won’t be turned away and told, ‘you are an attention-seeker’, ‘BPD is untreatable’, ‘get over it’.

BPD Awareness Week aims to reduce the stigma that comes with the diagnosis so that this treatment gap can close.