My Story
During my adolescence and early adulthood, I struggled with significant episodes of anxiety, social anxiety and depressive-like periods.
While this was not diagnosed by a professional, I recognised the experiences and actively chose not to seek medical help for fear of stigma and those around me perceiving me as weak and less capable.
As such, I attempted to hide my internal struggles and emotional turmoil and this inevitably led me to some dark places. However, an incidental social interaction with someone experienced in mental-health resulted in them recommending I talk to a therapist and, although my first attempt at therapy was less than successful, I took away several key lessons including: I would only get something out of counselling and it would only work for me if I let it, and that I was the biggest barrier to my own growth and happiness.
While it was not easy, enrolling in therapy again and allowing myself to be vulnerable, and explore what I had been hiding for so long allowed me to slowly change the way I saw myself and eventually get to a place where I felt able to be myself.
Going through this gave me a new-found desire to train as a therapist so that I could work with people going through similar and more challenging experiences as I could empathise with many of the challenges of seeking therapy.
