The lowdown will always have a special place in my heart, whilst I attempted to train to become a counsellor at the lowdown, it in fact led me on a path to battle my own demons.

I was sexually abused as a child and I remember in training certain scenarios we had to role play out and one story just rang true to me so much, it caused me to have a mini meltdown.

I remember thinking how could I potentially listen to children/teens/young adults if they come at me with similar problems and tell them something wasn’t their fault and help address the issue if it’s something I couldn’t do myself.

So because of the peers and staff I felt strong enough to speak with the police, my case was over 20 years old but after a long year the man was sentenced in prison.

My random low moments from guilt and shame from years of carrying this burden and thinking it was my fault have vanished, I now hold my head held high!

Yes I was sexually abused, no it’s wasn’t my fault and I thank the lowdown for helping me overcome that, I remember the teacher said to me words I will never forget.

‘You are either abused or not, there is not scale of how badly a person is abused, no they had it worst because abuse no matter to what degree can affect a person’

This is when a light switched on for me and the downplaying of what had happen, the silliness I felt that I was crying about something when other people could have been raped etc it doesn’t matter how severe, it’s not something that can be brushed under the carpet and it’s something that needed to be addressed.

It’s made me who I am today and I just feel now is a time to give back when all this uncertainty in the world is going on it’s important to help people 😊