Mark is a Detective Sgt. in the police. Whilst through his work he is exposed to traumatic events, his mental health issues stem from sexual abuse as a child and the Warrington bombings. Mark now speaks out about his experiences within the police and more widely:

“I have been delivering a presentation to colleagues (and recently the NHS) on my experiences of abuse and suppression and the more I have spoken about things, the less emotional impact they have on me …”

He believes that daylight is a powerful disinfectant, and that suppression causes severe damage to people. Within his work when debriefing traumatic incidents, he tries to emphasise how useful it is to get things out in the open by talking about them. As he says

“From my own perspective, I have always thought about what I did as being suppression, putting things in a box and sealing the box. Unfortunately, boxes leak and it is my firm belief that those leaks are what caused me to develop MH problems.

“I felt for a long time like it was poisoning me.”

The idea of lifting the lid on his ‘box’ and letting the daylight in was the start point for this painting.

Mark’s box is a bit battered now, but back in the past it was a dark, dangerous, leaky and toxic place. As the light is let in those dark and toxic thoughts are replaced with positive experiences such as being on Arran, on a boat, by the sea.