Alyssa's Story
In 2020 Alyssa started back in therapy after having a break for a few years, she was later diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and in 2022 a further diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). BPD in well known to be the most emotionally painful mental health disorder and is rarely diagnosed in children due to the complexities. Statistics show that 1 in 10 people with lived experience of BPD end their lives.
Alyssa followed all the professional advise she was given, took all the medication she was prescribed, attended all of her appointments with different services and spent extended periods of time in the mental health ward. On 10 May 2022, just 3 weeks after her 18th birthday she made the hardest decision of her life, the one that changed all of our lives and ended her pain.
Alyssa always expressed there was not enough support and not enough people who really listened to her. Through the Alyssa Jane Foundation we want to support youth mental health services to provide education and support to young people experiencing mental health conditions.
We want to encourage people to have conversations around youth mental health by raising awareness and for young people to know how to support their peers who are living with mental health.
Mental health has a lot of stigma around it and this means those who are experiencing mental health can often do so in silence.
Each year around Alyssa’s birthday in April we will be inviting family, friends and the public to join us to fundraise, raise awareness and take part in a 8km walk that Alyssa and I often did when she was on leave from the hospital.
This will give us the opportunity to not only raise public awareness but to have much needed conversations around mental health whilst doing something that is good for your mental health