At 30, I was sectioned under the Mental Health Act

When I took a sabbatical from my role in Children’s Services at the beginning of our Mayoral year I knew it would be time for something new when the year came to an end. I wasn’t sure what that would look like but raising awareness of mental health by sharing my own story during the Mayoral year inspired me to continue sharing that journey.

At 30, I was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. The hospital was terrifying; doors locked at night and patients expressing their trauma in unpredictable ways. I was once restrained and injected by four nurses.

While hospitalised, I took photos, made collages, displayed them in the hospital games room and invited the patients and staff for my private view! This grew into a national exhibition, “Out to Lunch” that excited gallery curators being a rare, firsthand look into mental illness that also attracted the attention of BBC 2 and ITV who made programmes about my experience.