About Karen Davies
The natural dipper pool in the Brecon Beacon's
Fundraising campaign
meeting the open water aliveness!
The natural dipper pool in the Brecon Beacon's
I’m a medically retired detective, once part of Lancashire Constabulary. Policing wasn’t just a job to me - it was who I was. That identity stayed with me until injury on duty and the aftermath changed everything.
In 2014, I was diagnosed with PTSD. By 2015, I was retired.
Life didn’t just slow down - it fell apart.
I returned home to Wales with no real plan and, at times, no real ability to cope. Losing the job meant losing structure, purpose, and a sense of self. Since leaving the police, I’ve struggled to regain any kind of momentum. It’s been a long, uneven road.
Over time, though, something began to shift.
Living in the Brecon Beacons, surrounded by raw, open landscape, I started to find small moments of peace again. Nature became a place where things felt quieter and more manageable.
And then there was the water.
Open water swimming has always been part of my life, something I’ve carried since childhood. But in recent years, it’s become something more. It’s where I go to be still. To find solitude. To calm the noise in my head.
The water doesn’t fix everything, but it gives me space to breathe.
“The Swimming Detective” comes from that place. It’s a way of trying to make sense of what’s happened, and what comes next. By writing honestly about my life and my struggles with mental health, It helps me and hopefully supports and encourages others who find themselves in a similar place.
We live in a chaotic world.
I’m not trying to solve it. I’m just trying to take small, incremental steps each day. To be present. To keep going. to give back.
