My Story: Rebuilding My Life and Healing from Trauma

My name is John. Following a 2024 diagnosis for PTSD, anxiety, and depression, I am raising £1,000 to fund a vital new block of EMDR therapy to process trauma and rebuild my life.

Where the Money Goes

The £1,000 target covers just over two months of weekly treatment. Each session is £110.Working with a fully qualified psychologist bypasses long NHS waiting lists noted by charities like PTSD UK.

Why I Am Raising Funds

While I am passionate about my work, my mental health has significantly impacted my ability to maintain my income. In 2024, I was officially declared partially unable to work, in fact, PTSD had forced me to spend over five months entirely away from my business Future Bound IT Ltd a company I founded and have run as a sole director since 2018.

Being self-employed means that when I cannot work, there is no corporate safety net. PTSD has severely impacted my business and financial stability.

I receive Universal Credit for the self-employed, and sometimes get family support just to cover my essential bills.

Mental Health Impact

In 2021, I discovered that I was the victim of a major police data protection breach. Just months later, in December 2021, I tragically lost my father to cancer. Navigating intense grief, supporting my mother, and fighting for my rights took an immense toll.

More recently, my mental health was further impacted after being profiled by an AI predictive policing system—a story that was featured in Wired magazine.

Alongside my IT career, I am a community activist and national public speaker highlighting the harms of the criminal justice system and policing, but the traumatic event that was the 2021 data breach has left me with PTSD, anxiety and depression.

How EMDR Helps Me

EMDR has been a lifeline. Over 18 months it has previously helped me navigate the trauma of being repeatedly stopped, searched, and racially profiled from my teens into my mid-twenties.

This new round of therapy allows me to safely tackle the data breach and underlying events that remain too painful to approach alone.

And Finally..

My goal is to safely reprocess and heal from the abuses of power that changed my life. EMDR therapy allows me to reframe my past and face ongoing legal challenges with resilience.

There is so much more to me than a mental health diagnosis, and more to life than struggle. Everything changes, and nothing is permanent. By helping me cover these upcoming therapy costs, you are directly supporting my healing from a journey I never intended to make.

Thank you so much for your generosity, kindness, and support.