Personality disorder service user help and support from Emergence

Emergence is a service user-led organisation with the overarching aim of supporting all people affected by personality disorder including service users, carers, family & friends and professionals.

We aim to work collaboratively to:

• Provide support, advice and information
• Increase public and professional understanding of personality disorder
• Challenge the associated stigma and social exclusion experienced by individuals affected by this diagnosis
• Stimulate further health and social policy responses into the prevention and treatment of personality disorder and the reduction of stigma and discrimination

We wanted a name that had resonance with the issues of personality disorder (PD) that did not necessarily use that term, so it would feel less stigmatising, and would also allow us to work with young people. 

Many of us within the organisation who have a lived experience of PD have differing views about the idea of recovery but we concur that we feel that we have ‘emerged’ rather than recovered.