get to know the board staff

[sine nomine]

Staff Bios
Someone suggested a thread in here for mods and admins to introduce themselves. That is the purpose of this thread.
This thread has only current staff bios, if you would like to read bios of the emeritus staff, those can be found here.
Thanks for reading!
Preface added to deb's bio because it was first<hr>

i'm deb. i started this board, and it's one of the most important things in my life; that means i'm more prone to make mistakes with it than i would be if it didn't matter so much.

i live in seattle with my imported aussie geekboy and two lovely kitties. schadenfreude is a 20-pound orange tabby maine coon mix, and kimpale is a 12-pound sable longhair who looks like he might be part persian, part maine coon, part random. he's beautiful though, and yes, they're both big boys. not fat, just immense. i love the weather in seattle -- mild winters, mild summers, lots of lovely grey days. my degree is actually in psych, but most of my jobs have been computer-related.

i work doing cellphone technical support -- i help people use their cellphones as modems and deal with other data connectivity issues. i actually like my job an awful lot most of the time. my desk at work is covered with toys -- everything from magnetix to one of those pin thingies where you press stuff into it to make patterns to a stuffed komodo dragon and a mint-green paisley cthulhu. it's the eneman and the stuffed prevacid stomach that scare most of my co-workers.

in my free time, i listen to music, read, knit, hang out with friends, pet the kitties, spend time with my sweetie. i'm addicted to shows like house, rescue me, nip/tuck, and various documentaryish things. i spend some down time watching stuff i've tivoed from the discovery health channel or national geographic (told you i was a geek). i'm a gadget freak as well.

my secret vice is cheap women's magazines, like woman's world and first for women. it's a voyuerism of a sort; i like to see what other people's lives are like, and the audience of those magazines have lives so so different to mine... it intrigues me. i'm generally fascinated by peopel anyway.

i've been free of self-harm for nearly nine years now. oh, and i adore indian and italian food. i cannot stand bell peppers (capsicum).

my strengths are that i listen and try very hard to be fair. i care a huge amount about this board and community, and i'm willing to admit when i'm wrong.

my biggest weaknesses are that sometimes i act too quickly, and sometimes i try too hard to please everyone and muck things up horribly. that, and i'm horrible about getting back to people (though i'm improving that).

deb

[splitimage]

Hi,

I'm splitimage. I'm 43, female, and have been a member of BUS for over 10 years, and on staff since 2005/

My undergrad degree is in English & Philosophy, but I then went on to do an MBA specializing in corporate finance and am also a qualified accountant. Let's just say it took me awhile to figure out I wanted to be when I grew up. I'm currently teaching part time at a university and doing some freelance accounting for a publishing company, and in school full time retraining to be a forensic accountant in the hopes of getting back into the job market. I haven't had full time employment since 2009 due to a combination of alcohol problems and a lousy economy.

My passions are reading, music, gardenning, and travel, and knitting. I play the harp and unfortunately had to sell my pedal harp to raise funds to go back to school, but I have a great lever harp which is a 40 string Timothy Storm King. I can't afford to travel at the moment, but when I can I try to visit another country every year and am trying to decide between Morroco, Jordan, and Egypt for my next trip.

I would love to have pets (I adore both cats and dogs) but am currently living in a sober living residence that doesn't allow pets.

I started SI'ing when I was around 9 and continued until about 17. Then I stopped until I had a maor crash at 30. I've been SI free now for about 10 months. It's a hard habit to break. My big issue now is quitting drinking, I had a little over a year sober, then have been in and out of relapses with long periods of sobriety in between binges, and multiple trips through rehab, over the past 5 years. I'm currently just under 10 months sober and really hope to get back to a year.

I'm extremely shy & very private, and tend to have a hard time trusting people, something else I'm working on.

What I'm good at. I think I'm good at being objective & fair, and I don't get upset particularly easily (learned the hard way on the job). I also have a great sense of humour.

What I'm not so good at - I'm not particularly comfortable with confrontation on a personal level. I'm more likely to back away from a situation rather than tackle it head on, and hope that others will handle it.
I'm also rather blunt, I don't mean to offend people, but it's my communication style. It's something that I've been working on all my life.

--splitimage

[Milvus]

It's probably about time I posted an intro =P

Uhhhh, I'm Corti. I am bad at writing intros (hence why I have held out for so long without writing one).

I self harmed for a lot of years, had disordered eating, and still have trichotillomania (that is the next thing to be resolved). Went through the depression/anxiety/OCD here-have-lots-of-meds thing. I have been SI free for 18+ months now, even though I thought for a long time it would never be possible.

I'm 22, with grumpy-old-man tendancies. But fear not, for I am Fabulous.
I love animals, I have a BSc. in Animal Behaviour. I hope, eventually, to do something with it. But that would mean being a grown-up. I am quite happy being an adult, but do not want to grow up just yet =P That is possibly why I am an RW mod...

I live in the Welsh countryside. This also contributes to being a wee bit nuts. It is a town where it is not uncommon to see ninja turtles and oompa loompas walking around. The weirdest sight so far though, has to be the person dressed as a steam ship. Why? o.0

Things I like: Films (The darker the better)
Books. (Anything with words in) They are my one true addiction and I spend far too much money on them.

I own swords, chainmail, and a helmet, for the off chance that I will get off my bum and join the local version of the SCA.

I own radio control daleks, fire engines, and cars of various varieties because I am secretly 5 years old.

I share my bed with a 1.5m toy wolf and lots of spiders.

My secret vices are country and western music and crime novels.

I am not going into strengths and weaknesses because that would be too much like a job interview. Just accept that I am great =P

My PM box is always open.

[Poppies]

Updated 17th February 2014

Hi there, I'm Poppies, and I've been a Moderator for nearly 4 years - wow!! I'm a Mod in Spirt and Place. Please come and explore Spirit - it's not a 'heavy' place - it's a warm, welcoming place for anyone of any faith/belief - whether you are of a particular belief/faith, or whether you're just curious or exploring! If you have a question - please feel welcome to ask it - and we'll try to help you to find your answer! Or if you just want to come and chat, you'll be very welcome too! If you don't have a faith/belief, you are still welcome to come and explore/ask questions too!

I'm in my mid fifties, married, with 2 adult daughters. I don't like being in my fifties. I feel much younger than that. I have no problem with anyone else who's in their 50's - most of my irl friends are actually older than me... I just don't want to be 'middleaged' - I can remember thinking my mother was 'middleaged' when she was 50... I don't feel anything like as old as she seemed to be!!

My hobbies are mostly involved in arty crafty stuff.

We have 1 cat - he's a complete nutcase and very gentle and loveable!! I would like to have a dog at some point.

I care deeply about things that concern me and I genuinely want to help. I hope that I am approachable and friendly and supportive!

I'm very honoured to be a Mod on BUS. BUS has become a big part of my life. My SI is much more under control than it was - sometimes I find it easy... sometimes I find it hard... and sometimes I still give in... I take it one step at a time...

I think that's about it...

[kiwi33]

BUS has helped me heaps so it is a privilege to try to give something back.

I am male, in my 50s and quit as a University lecturer ("professor" in the US system)/biomedical research scientist some years ago, This is a long story - essentially I got tired of Human Relations/Public Relations people trying to tell me how to do my job (tolerance of fools is not one of my skills). I am still active in science (reading, thinking, writing papers, doing the best that I can to support the people who were members of my research team).

Privately, I am in remission from Major Depressive Disorder and alcohol addiction (the latter with a few slips, none recently) so will try to help on both of those when I think that I might be able to.

My user-name and avatar reflect the fact that I am from NZ though I currently live in Australia.

My posts tend to be brief and to the point (I hope...) but that does not mean that I do not care about the issues raised by BUS members. I read way more than I post and usually spend a long time thinking about a thread and how I can try to help before I make a contribution to it.

I am always happy to talk with members by PM .

[treasure]

hi, treasure here.
i've just recently become a mod for before & after, although i also look after custom bus avatars (which are currently not working). i've been a bus member for ages, and in the process i have pretty much recovered from si-ing, although i still need help getting through urges and dealing with emotions and stress, so i post a lot in b&a and my place. i have dysthimia (low level chronic depression) and social anxiety.

i live in south-east Melbourne (Australia). i share a house with my sister which is great because we are pretty similar and she generally makes me happy. we have a cat named Kali who is black with a white belly and front paws. she is cuddly and soft and makes life more interesting.

i took a very long time to finish uni, but i finished my degree last year in I.T. i work in web development/design, and hope to work for myself (my fledgling business exists but with no clients so far). i enjoy reading (when my depression is not making everything suck), making jewellery, occasional creative pursuits, and do lots of things online like games, videos, reading, learning, stumbling etc.

bus has been a constant support for me for almost 10 years, through difficult times but helping me find positives. i want it to continue helping people and i'm happy to try to give a little bit back to make that happen. i find before & after to be a really practical and useful part of bus and i hope more bussers will come to use it.

[sixtyfoothigh]

I live with my fiancee and two little dogs in the UK. We're getting married in July 2014 and would like to start a family after that. I'm in my 30s (was born in 1982).

I currently work fulltime as a manager in a resource department at a university and also do some part time lecturing in business statistics. Before my current career I had a career in science, working in biophysics.

I'm also really into alternative culture and identify with the goth and fetish scenes a lot. I'm in an industrial band and am heavily involved in the UK industrial music scene.

Sixty x

[bearcat]

I have no idea what to say, so I am cribbing the format from swirlish!

You can call me bearcat (or just bear...).

I'm in my 30s and I live in Canada- in a huge city now (the huge city, really )

I have been recovered from SI for a long time now, with only unremarkable slips, but BUS is kind of a home for me. I used to be a very angry self-destructive person. I can't really even get into that mindset anymore, which is a huge relief.

My passions include many, many areas of inquiry and activity. I have always been the kind of person who taught themselves about things or how to do things.

One of my strong points is that I am unfaze-able. You could say pretty much anything to me and I would consider it without reacting. This makes me a level-head in conflict and crisis situations. I know that emotions can get the best of people so I always try to be kind and recognize all the factors in a given situation.

My bad point is that I can be too much about "law and order" sometimes. I think it's really important that people try to take responsibility for themselves, even in the most difficult situations- which sometimes means that I might not meet the person "where they're at" like I should. I can sometimes find it hard to respond when people are just in need of support- I have this urge to be practical at all times, which is not always what people need or want.

Another bad point is that I can be pretty emotionally squirrelly. I'm working on being better at accepting other people's interest and care. When I express care and concern I really, really mean it, but I am not good at being cared for so please don't be put off if I seem weird or reticent.

My PM box is always open. I feel pretty lucky to be a part of this. You guys are my people.

[roly]

Hello I'm roly

I first came to BUS in 2002 and I'm still here today

I am diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, depression and anxiety. I self-harmed for ten years but am now recovered.

I've had a lot of therapy over the years but what helped me the most was spending 18 months in a therapeutic community.

I live in the north of England and I work in customer services for an educational publishing company.

My favourite things are: books, people, animals, sunshine, walking, talking, chocolate... and wine!

[Just Pomegranates]

My name is Jessica and I'm in my early 20s.

I love books and reading and stories and talking about them, recommending them to friends or giving copies of books to friends, and use my Goodreads account like every day multiple times a day when I have access to it. I also do my own creative writing (stories, song lyrics, occasional poems) and I hope to be a published author in the future and also open my own bookstore. Last year I actually completed a Bachelor Of Arts degree majoring in English Literature and Creative Writing and since starting my degree I went from owing about 50 books to about 750, so I guess you could say I a serious book collector now and showing no signs of slowing down. A lot of them tend to come from secondhand bookstores/online secondhand booksites or op-shops/charity shops and one of my favourite ways to spend a day is to go make my rounds at the used bookstores/op-shops wherever I am.

I'm originally from Canada but I've lived in Australia for going on 12 years now. I've learned a lot and grown up a lot as a person since moving here but I'd really love at least visit Canada again in the future because I still miss winter and cold and I loathe summer like nobody's business and not a beachy person at all. I also really want to visit because I have Canadian First People heritage and have become more and more aware of how emigrating has broken my connection with country and wish to re-establish even a small bit of that connection in some form to the best of my ability and learn more about it. In the meantime I have been studying the Australian Aboriginal people quite a lot in the last few years (as I've become more interested/aware of my own Indigenous heritage) with it being difficult to study North American Indigenous Peoples with no longer living in Canada and not really able to study my own people's heritage (not knowing my exact tribe/clan etc due to colonialism) and have learned a lot and read an increasing amount of Indigenous Literature because a lot of (very) basic/general concepts seem to be fairly universal/common among Australian and North American Indigenous Peoples. I’m also just super interested in other Indigenous Peoples in general and love reading more of their literature and learn more about their culture as well. If you have recommendations, I’d be more than happy to hear them!

I love music and movies. My favourite film is currently Black Swan and some of my favorite bands/composers are My Chemical Romance, 30 Seconds To Mars, Marmozets, Green Day, The Used, Leathermouth, A Perfect Circle, Hans Zimmer, Clint Mansel, and various movie soundtracks. I also love tattoos and body piercings/body mods. I'm quite active in the Piercing thread in Random Weirdness and ramble on about that in my Place fairly often as well and love talking about all that with my best friends and people in general.
I used to struggle with borderline EDish behavior, anxiety, SI, possible BPD and/or Bipolar, self-esteem, and some gender stuff for a good 6/7 years but I'm doing much, much better lately, and have recently weaned off Lexapro after being on that for a few years.



I'm always happy to chat or answer questions to the best of my ability and feel free to come stop by my Place whenever you'd like.

[strmdncr]

Greetings all

I'm strmdncr. I have been a member of BUS since 2004 and though from time to time I will wander into other forums I generally stick to Place and the various After Hours forums.

I live in Canada, am married and over the years we have shared our home with a number of animals including dogs, cats, lizards, fish, and hedgehogs. A few random two legged type animals have made their way in and out of my home over the years as well (aka - family members )

I began si'ing at around the age of 12 and continued on and off until, in my thirties I decided it was time to work with someone to attempt to find a way to stop. November of this year brings me to five years since the last time I si'd.



Like others - if you need anything my pm box is open.

[swirlish]

Shamefully, I haven't had an updated bios here for a long time

I'm in my 30s and live alone in an apartment in a pretty lively neighbourhood. There are a lot of kids playing in the yard outside my house so it's never really quiet here. Which can be both good and bad, sometimes I really crave peace and quiet; I'm quite a social person but I need my alone-time too.

I haven't hurt myself since 2003, but I'm not sure I would say I'm "recovered", I don't really like terms like that. To me, "recovered" seems like I got better from something that happened to me, when in fact I chose to hurt myself. I very very strongly believe that hurting yourself is a choice, but that doesn't mean I think it's a simple choice or that it's necessarily "bad" or "good" - I'm not so fond of the value judgements, I don't think they're very helpful a lot of the time. Self-injury is definitely a destructive, mal-adaptive coping mechanism and I don't think it's healthy to engage in, but I try to stay away from the bad/good dichotomy. I wish I had never resorted to self-injury, as it has had a lot of negative repercussions in my life, but I try not to beat myself up over it; at the time I used something that worked for me, that got me through and there is nothing I can do to change that now. The only thing I can do is learn from my past and try to make healthier, more constructive choices in the future.

As an admin, I try to be approachable, understanding and compassionate. I think those qualities are important in all encounters with other people, but maybe especially when you work with people who for some reason or another experience difficulties. I am a very curious person and I'm genuinely interested in other people. I want people to feel alright about contacting/talking to me about whatever they want to, whether that is about the rules/bus stuff or other things or just chitchat. I'm pretty much always up to talking and I'm pretty good at setting boundaries if I can't talk.

I usually write much too long posts (or texts, essay and other written stuff in general). I'm not always great about being succinct!

If you want to know anything else, ask I'll let you know if I don't want to/can't answer. And please do PM me if you want to talk about anything.

[Spidey]

Hey, I'm Kenmeri. I moderate Coping and Challenge Me.

I live in a zoo (or so it seems!) with several other humans and two different types of four-leggeds Life is entertaining around here, to say the least I am Old™.

I started self-harming at 13, developed an eating disorder in my 20's. I am absent from them now - I haven't engaged in any ED stuff since 2011 or SI since 2012. I have some diagnonsense, but not anything to write home about. I'm fully in recovery.

I'm big into sports - I'm a huge fan of football, (both American and the real kind), hockey and baseball. I've also acquired quite the TV obsession - I like Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Arrow, The Flash (please don't spoil the season finaleeeee), Daredevil, Bones and NCIS. If none of them are on though, you'll find my TV tuned into SportsCenter or Outside The Lines. I'm also partial to any cooking show and any home improvement show. Sorry folks, I can't get into Orange Is The New Black. As for tunes, I love classic rock, the blues, and pretty much anything I declare Good™.

My PM box is always open. Like swirlish, I'll let you know if there's something I can't or won't answer. But hey, if you want, give me a shout.

Take care now, ya hear?