Sue Wheatcroft

My background is as an academic (historian), and my first book, Worth saving, is about disabled children during the second world war.

However, after a four-year mental health crisis, during which time I received a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (also known in the UK as emotionally unstable personality disorder)), and spent some time in prison, I left my academic life behind and became committed to bringing about change for those who have been failed by the mental health services, and whose mental health condition has led to contact with the criminal justice system.

Since early 2017, I have worked (either as a volunteer or an ad-hoc worker) for the Revolving Doors Agency, the Prison Reform Trust, Rethink Mental Illness and the East Midland Academic Science Network. I have been on various advisory panels, contributed to several official reports and, in 2019, was lucky enough to have been awarded the prestigious Janey Antoniou Award for my work as a mental health campaigner. I also founded the Derbyshire borderline personality disorder support group, which has given information to over 300 people from all over the UK as well as some from overseas.

I have recently rejoined the academic fraternity, as researher on the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway degree programme at the University of Central Lancashire. In addition, I am a guest lecturer at the universities of Derby and Nottingham, for students of social work, nursing, law and criminology.

My latest book, Pushing the Boundaries, is an account of my time in prison.