I earn my living with words, as a freelance journalist, editor and communications specialist – and now a therapeutic writing facilitator.
I graduated in 2024 with an MSc for Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes MSc (Hons) at Metanoia Institute. This brought two parts of myself together: journalist (public me) and journal writer (private me).
For my research, I explored my past when I was in the grips of the Great Unreality.
My dissertation, The Great Unreality – An autoethnographic exploration of depersonalisation-derealisation in adolescent journals using therapeutic writing – can be downloaded here.
I retrospectively self-diagnosed the psychiatric disorder, depersonalisation-derealisation.
It gave me a new perspective: I realised I had spent a lifetime in recovery, gathering insights and wisdom about becoming more grounded, more real.
I summarised my story for Unreal, the charity for depersonalisation and derealisation.
Real Food Lover
Eating healthily is one of the foundations of my mental and physical health.
What do I mean by real food? As close to nature as possible, grown from nature-fertilised soil. And whole and unprocessed too, please.
Everything is connected: the way we farm and eat affects the quality of life for all including insects, wildlife, farm animals and humans; for instance farming without bee-killing pesticides and water-polluting factory-made fertilisers.
Real Food Lover won a 2009 award and its Winkler’s Writing Rules were endorsed by the Guardian.
I subscribe to the National Union of Journalists’ Code of Practice.