Sponsored by
Art of learning to cope with illness
Kirsty McNulty of Merlin Grove, with her clay creations
A Leyland woman who suffers from borderline personality disorder is finding ways to cope with her anxiety through her 3D artwork.
Kirsty McNulty, from Merlin Grove, struggles to leave the house and says she’s constantly battling mental health problems.
“One minute I feel okay,” she said. “And the next I’m not. Sometimes I can be fine for weeks, but I get depressed easily, and I get very nervous about leaving the house.”
But after building up the courage to attend Runshaw Adult College in Euxton, where she studied for her degree in graphic design, Kirsty has found a positive way to spend her time.
She makes 3D clay models of monsters and elderly people, which helps keeps her mind active and healthy.
The 25-year-old said: “I started looking into this about five years ago as a hobby, getting ideas from websites.
“Then I started to do it for my college degree, and submitted one of my models for my final piece.
“The first one I did was of an old man I called Eggbert, and then I decided to make him a wife, called Eggwina.”
It takes Kirsty around 20 hours to complete a model, and she has called her venture Dee Raa Arts, in the hope of turning it into a career one day.
Kirsty, who lives with her friend, says her hobby has helped with her condition.
“It’s a way of escaping,” she said. “It’s a positive way of coping with things, and I hope my work can encourage other people in my situation to find something they love, too.
“I find it hard to leave the house, and I have to force myself to go to the shops or Post Office when I need to.
“But college has been good for me, and all I do is work on my models to keep myself happy.”
She added: “I think my borderline personality disorder, which is a bit like bipolar disorder, started when I was a child, but was diagnosed only a few months ago.
“I was on medication at first but I’m not any more – I feel like I can find my own ways of dealing with it all now.”
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leyland
Wednesday 19 June 2013
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Heavy rain
Temperature: 13 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South east
