My name is Karley, and I have what’s known as BPD. Although I don’t hold too tightly to the term “borderline,” it is a useful and shorthand way for me to identify my experiences. I know that any label does not fully describe the depth of our experiences and that there is so much beyond categories. My vision is to provide effective care & support to people with BPD — whether or not a diagnosis has been applied — so that we may build lives worth living, outside of a system that doesn’t always see the fullness of possibilities within us.

While I do think that learning dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) skills can be transformative, I think there’s more that can help us — particularly somatic work as a portal to (re)connecting us to our intuitive knowledge through our embodied emotions. Meditation and mindfulness practices can also support us in developing a more attuned relationship with ourselves.

I assert that feeling things deeply is a gift. Our emotions give us information, especially through the body. Many of us categorized as borderline have been disconnected from our bodies and therefore our deep emotional knowledge — knowledge that can keep us safe, feel truly ourselves, and therefore connect with the people and the world around us.

I want us to work together to find ways to stand in our own power, with access to the full range of our emotions to guide us.

You already have the power inside you — let it unfurl.

—karley