12. I understand you’re passionate about creating awareness for BDD what projects if any are you involved in for this?

Creating awareness for BDD is very important to me, when I was unwell there was hardly any help, which is why I had to take things into my own hands.
Today already there is so much more help for suffers out there, however there is still a large amount of people who have never heard of “Body Dysmorphic Disorder” it is so important that people are aware of this as many may not even know they have the illness, and likewise there may be people living with a suffer who have no idea what is wrong with their, Friend / family member.

I work closely with the Samaritans Charity as when I was ill they where the only people I could turn to, they eventually where the reason I stopped self harming as talking to them was a much healthier way of realizing the pain I was suffering inside!, I did not want any reassurance I just wanted someone to listen, and that’s what they did.
I do conferences across the country educating the volunteers on the illness, I am also going to be visiting Schools etc with the Samaritans to speak about my experiences with Bullying and hope that by doing so it will help the victims understand that it is the bullies who have the problem and not them!, it may also help the bullies realize how serous this is, and how what they are doing to people can often result in suicide, bullying is often a factor in a child taking their own life, and that makes me feel even more determined to spread this message.

Obviously now that I have the book published which was one of my projects / goals it will inevitably help create further awareness, not only to other suffers but to people within the medical world, the more we can educate people on this disorder, the brighter the future will be for others with the illness.

I am also running my S0S Campaign (Stop 0 Size) with my Agency TRUE MODEL MEDIA which I have done many radio interviews and news papers articles in relation to.
If I can help even a little by using the contacts I have within the industry then at least I know I am doing something positive for the suffers out there, by trying to provide better role models I feel that I am helping to make a change to the current 0 Size trend.

I also work with other BDD suffers who e-mail me, I ask them to give me a list of goals and I am there to support them through their own journey, they e-mail me when they have achieved each goal, and each time I watch them overcome another hurdle it makes me feel as though I have overcome another with them.