Memoir | Self Harm | Mental Health
I Hated Her and Wished Her Dead
And it’s been a long journey back to love
‘Self-love’ was not a concept I was familiar with growing up.
It wasn’t until I started my journey in becoming a counsellor that I encountered permission from the human realm to love myself.
I say ‘human realm’ because animals have always been a source of comfort for me. As I write this, there a warm purring cat curled up on my lap.
Animals offered unconditional love, connection, and a grounding space to just be.
Animals make us human -Temple Grandin
Unfortunately, I couldn’t take animals with me wherever I went. Therapy animals, like dogs and horses, were not as common as they are today. Yet, understanding their healing power of animals would ultimately inspire me to become a therapist.
Self-Harm: A Hidden Reality
‘Self-harm’ was another concept unfamiliar to me during my youth.
Never mentioned in school, methods of self-harm were as absent as free condoms and tampons. Come to think of it, mental health as a whole was never talked about — unless someone in the school passed away and a grief…