About Me
Starting therapy can be a strange experience. You show up and begin to talk about the things you may not have felt comfortable talking about before to anyone, yet alone a complete stranger! During therapy, building a relationship of mutual trust is important, so while the sessions are about you and what you chose to bring, it can be also be helpful to know a little about the person you are talking to, so you can better feel like they understand you.
A little about me:
I began my counselling journey because I was always told that I was someone that seemed like a good listener. This is something I have always felt there was not enough of in the world. Having a space where someone will simply hear what you have to say and make you feel like what you have to say matters. To feel understood, not judged and provide a space to better explore how you may feel about the stresses you are dealing with.
I have lived in England, Ireland and Scotland, and during my time in each country, I have had the chance to see the differences and similarities between the people who come from each. I grew up in rural areas, experiencing what it can be like to deal with feeling like an outsider, small town mentality and more conservative thoughts and ideologies. I then moved to bigger cities and felt the changes that come with that, from loneliness and isolation and feeling small. I have experienced struggles with family fallouts, community blowouts and dealing with being labelled as "different".
I also have plenty of first-hand experience with struggles facing the LGBTQIA+ community as I myself am a part of it. I grew up not knowing why I felt so different from my peers and it took years before I was able to come to terms with my identity realising that I am Trans. Before coming out, I struggled with my sense of self, my identity, who I was and who I wanted to be, my struggles with how others saw me, you name it, I struggled with it! It took a long time and a lot of self-care to better understand these aspects of myself and is one of the reasons I became so passionate about becoming a counsellor myself. I know just how important that space can be to better work out your internal struggles.
You may be coming specifically to work on your identity, it may be for dealing with current or past trauma, wanting to overcome depression or anxiety, but the thing I want to convey the most is this; whatever your reason for coming to me may be, I care, and I want to help.