Member-only story
I have been living in Reading for almost 25 years, but it has only been in the last decade that I have become aware of the dark side of this town.
My escapade into Reading’s underside came in 2014 when I was forced out of my job at Foster Wheeler. I tried in vain to tell people of the mistreatment that I experienced by personnel from that company both inside and outside of the company, only to be rebuffed and not listened to. In fact, Thames Valley Police told me that if I don’t like my job then I should just quit, a doctor at the Broad Street Mall suggested that I should just move when I told her I was being harassed at home, and finally Prospect Park Hospital gave me a label of a mental illness.
Cast into the lower echelons of Reading town, I found myself at Your Way, and place where people in the mental health community could go. It was at Your Way that I met Tanya, who has a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder, which she says is not that bad. Tanya had set fire to her apartment because she wanted to scare her neighbour. When Tanya was released from HMP Bronzefield, she was taken to Reading and put in a home where she could stay until she found her own accommodation. It was very difficult for her to find a place to live because not many landlords want an arsonist in their property. Tanya was given lots of coaching on what…
