S WESTWOOD: BIOGRAPHY Photo © Juliet Morris S Westwood was born in 1974 and grew up in Great Wymondley, a small village near Hitchin in Hertfordshire in the UK. He studied at the Thomas Alleyne school in Stevenage and then went on to study at the NHCollege in Letchworth. He lives with his wife and their new born son Draven and their chihuahua, spending time working to raise awareness of Mental Health issues and promoting his book Suicide Junkie. Since a young age S.Westwood began to display mental health problems refusing to go to school and complaining of 'phantom' pains. His elder sister suffered from Crohn's disease and his mother and father became divorced. As his life progressed to being taunted at his secondary school and becoming reclusive the symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder began. School just made things worse and S.Westwood began to drink and take recreational drugs. By the time he was ready to start 'real life' he was suffering badly with BDD and borderline personality disorder. He took an overdose. This was S.Westwood's first suicide attempt but would not be his last. A spiral of unsuitable jobs and incompatible relationships built up S.Westwood's lack of coping skills. His self esteem hit rock bottom and depression sank in. More self harm and suicide attempts added to his list of failures. His job was sucking up his soul and was almost impossible to keep going with his severe BDD symptoms. He tried writing as a way to vent his spleen, finishing three fiction novels before writing "Suicide Junkie" his autobiographical novel that tackles mental health issues from a survivors point of view. He hopes that in writing this book he can help others come to terms with their mental illness and through the book and promotion will make his disorders house hold names. S.Westwood has appeared on TV to speak about BDD on the shows 'This Morning', 'Trisha', 'Doctor Doctor' and Channel five news. He has also had his story published in national magazines and even had an interview for radio. All this can be found on the "multimedia" section. This work will go on and S.Westwood will continue to be a spokesperson for mental health issues - a subject he is passionate about and has experienced first hand. He is determined to make those negative years of suffering into a positive and has certainly begun that work.