In February 2009, I lost my financial job with a large corporate. Back then, I thought great; I got redundancy. I will have no problem in getting a new job. I was wrong. Ireland had just encountered the worse recession ever. It proved to be extremely difficult to find another role.
Four months passed. There was no sign of a job. Anxiety was creeping in. I got a part-time role, relief but not for long. It took me another year to get another job. Within that year, I remember waking up one morning, feeling a sense of gloom and despair. Depression had got a grip of me. I felt utterly useless and alone. It was not until a friend of mine told me that he was seeing a therapist, that I got the courage to seek help.
So, I got the number and booked an appointment. Honestly, I was in an awful state. I do not know how I got to the therapy practice. My body was there, but my mind was not. My mind was scattered into a million pieces. I met the client intake administrator. I was informed that a therapist would meet me next week.
Next week came very quickly. I got a call from my therapist, and an appointment was made. Looking back, I knew deep down that I was on the road to recovery. It was nice to hear that somebody cared.
I met my therapist, and the first session was like a verbal volcano. Suddenly, all the stuff I had been carrying poured out. Throughout the years I have dealt with the shame and guilt concerning my sexual orientation, I am tremendously proud to be a Gay man now. The anger of the bullying I endured. The loss and grief of a taken youth. I was now on a path of finding who I truly am. Self-love is a beautiful journey to be on.
During this time, I found I had a passion to be a therapist. I commenced my studies. Soon, I realised the corporate world was not for me.
Furthermore, with this gift of rediscovering who I am. I wish to help others who have lost themselves along the way be it through trauma or whatever life has thrown at them. To date, it has been a pleasure to see many clients grow in self-belief before my eyes.
