Hello,

I’m Paul and I’m a mental health nurse with over 10 years of experience working in the UK’s National Health Service. Initially, I worked in drug and alcohol services before moving to community mental health.

Since graduating, I have completed additional training in motivational interviewing (MI), cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and solution-focused therapy (SFT). I have been involved in the training of colleagues and other organisations, and have also set up a dual diagnosis service which catered to the needs of people with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders.

I love my work and in particular I enjoy seeing how small changes can make a big difference to an individual’s recovery.

During my training to become a nurse in 2007, I started experiencing distressing episodes of derealisation. Initially, these were brief, but after a particularly significant panic attack, the derealisation became constant and persisted for the next two years. It was an incredibly frightening experience.

I am pleased to report that in 2009 I achieved a full recovery. Since then, I have been fascinated by depersonalisation-derealisation disorder and have spent much time examining why I became unwell and how I got better.

I would now like to help others who are experiencing persistent depersonalisation-derealisation and it is with this in mind that I have established The Depersonalisation Guidance Centre.