Parental Mental Health and Child Welfare Network -

Living with Personality Disorder - Supporting Better Parenting

The study days reported offered a space for people who have and still do experience the daily fight to access a life and relationships that many of us take for granted. They gave an opportunity to share their experiences with each other and with people who deliver services and policy makers.

The days covered a wide range of issues from the national policy framework through new education and training initiatives to most importantly the lived experience of personality disorders and their impact on families and relationships. The inspiration of people who daily triumph over adversity was a thread running throughout the presentations and workshops.

There is still a long way to go before the ambition of ‘Breaking the Cycle of Rejection’ can be realised but progress is encouraging. There is a genuine commitment from those with policy-making leadership to continue to build on and consolidate the very real advances made in the last few years. The new Knowledge and Understanding Frameworks are, for the first time, beginning to address the massive need for well trained staff who are sensitive and aware about Personality Disorders across Health,Social Care and Criminal Justice. This gap has been recognised by service users and carers for many years; there are signs that service agencies and professionals are now realising the need to change and taking action.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to both events, including all the presenters and workshop facilitators, as well as those who gave of their time to take notes and to write them up. A special thanks to Eddie Kane, Nick Benefield, Alison Faulkner, Sue Imlack and members of Personality Plus, to Ciaran Healy for stepping in at the last minute to rescue the first event, to Terry Bamford and Alleyn Wilson for their holding work, and to Jean Healy for the final design push to make the report a reality.

Download the report Living with Personality Disorders: Supporting Better
Parenting (PDF 4MB)

Vicky Nicholls
May 2010