“Before starting therapy, I was cutting myself daily and already had a set date to kill myself. I constantly felt like no one understood me because for the past 2 years important figures (i.e., friends, family, teachers) told me that a traumatic experience I had was something that should be excused. I was also dealing with a lot of school pressure and had unrealistically high expectations for myself. I suffered from low self-esteem and was crying every other day for the longest time.

The year I got the help I needed was the year when my life hit the biggest turning point. My parents were getting divorced and this time I knew that it was finally going to happen. I was also dealing with school pressure, friendship issues, unresolved trauma from the year before, and my dad constantly verbally abusing the entire family. After a huge argument with my father I started cutting myself for the first time. I wondered if I was depressed and searched it up online. One of the questions I came across was if I had set a date for myself to die and at that time I answered no. A month later, things hit rock bottom and I remember telling myself during class that I would kill myself at home that Sunday in my bathtub.

I started crying in class when I realised that a question I previously said no to had now become a yes. The next day I decided to see the school counsellor for a final chance at hope. Eventually more people got involved and I ended up in therapy and I can say now that being in therapy is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

I had met a handful of counsellors prior to this and man did they suck. I entered the room with a lot of doubt and remember thinking that whoever was going to talk to me was going to start off with another "everything in this room will remain confidential unless you intend to hurt yourself or someone else". I remember my first session so vividly and I remember taking an instant liking to Xinyi after she dropped the f-bomb to describe something I said.

I’ve been going to therapy for about 9 months now and it has helped me become a person I never knew existed. It allowed me to see things from a different perspective and understand that even though I have bad days, I also have good ones. Therapy is all about changing your mindset and it only works if you allow yourself to have that change. Therapy only works if you make that change for yourself with the help of other people.”