About Me
Hiya, my name is Ken McAuley and I’m a member of the 2day2gether team, having first met Jon Mansell aka exboozehound about 3 years ago (November 2015) when attending Jon’s peer support group at Asda merry hill .
My diagnosis is as yet unclear, having exibited symptoms of a number of unrelated mental illnesses, including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and BPD or borderline personality disorder.
I have a history of drug, alcohol and gambling addiction which has complicated matters, though I’m no longer on drugs, I don’t gamble and my drinking is managed by myself effectively, I no longer need to use drinking as a crutch or a means to avoid reality or anything like that.
My mental health problems surfaced or rather exploded when I reached the age of 40, culminating in my admission to Bushey Fields Hospital and the breakup of my marriage. It was about this time that I began to recall horrifying events in my chidhood, in particular myself being repeatedly raped by my father after having attended Mass each Sunday. I also remember being sexually abused by one of my sisters during the week again on a regular basis.
I am unsure as to why these events could have remained undiscovered by myself throughout my adult years, though I’ve been led to understand that the mind can refuse to remember particularly unpleasant trauma in order to protect itself from further damage.
When I first began attending Jon’s peer support group in late 2015 I carried with me what I called my survival bag, which was something I created as a coping tool for the panic attacks I was subject to at the time. In this bag were my Ipad, my headphones, my sunglasses, a whittling knife and a piece of wood to carve shapes into.
After a few weeks my anxiety and fear of strangers and new situations subsided and I began to talk frankly about my issues, in particular the rapes and sexual assaults I’d been the victim of.
At this stage in my life, I now know that instead of simply surviving, I can apply all my past experience of rape and abuse to helping victims of these things now, in order to make sure that their lives are not destroyed as mine nearly was .
I can also apply knowledge about addiction of various types, it’s causes, consequences and possible cures.
It’s true that we at 2day2gether are a motley crew, but we want to help others with psychiatric, addiction and abuse issues, we are capable of doing so and we are going to, as we’ve done with a number of people both in the past and the present.
We look forward to hearing from you,
Kenneth Mcauley
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