‘It’s okay not to be okay,’ in conversation with The Mental Health Runner (SHP)
Thomas has worked at British Sugar since 2009. After completing his mechanical engineering apprenticeship and achieving his HND, he moved into a Process Technician role from 2012. Outside of his day job, he devotes most of his time to help improve the mental health of others as ‘Mental Health Runner’.
Thomas has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, social anxiety disorder and PTSD. They all stem from a mixture of different events from Thomas’ life. “The PTSD and the social anxiety were triggered when my brother sadly passed away in 2009, but it all stems back to my childhood, where I was bullied quite heavily throughout my school life. It wasn’t a very nice time. At home, fantastic, but soon as I left the front door I’d have to sprint and hide away from people, it was quite horrific.”
The other one is called a borderline personality disorder, or BPD, which can affect people in different ways. The way it affects Thomas is that his emotions are on a knife edge. If he’s having a good day, he feels like he is having a positive impact on those around him. But, on a bad day, he feels like he has upset people around him.
