My own journey has been a deep and layered process of overcoming wounds and stepping into my full power and worth.

I was brought up by strong women, and from a young age embodied courage and individualism. Yet my childhood was also characterised by traumatic events that affected me deeply - from the breakdown of my family and emigration of my father, to the tragic passing of my brother when I was nine years old.

As a child my earliest memories are of being very connected to my father. Sadly my parents separated when I was three, my father met a new partner and when I was five he emigrated to the other side of the world to start a new family. When I was around 6 years old, my brother and I travelled to Australia to see him and meet our new half brother and sisters. I will never forget the moment of arriving there and meeting these two new babies, as it was then that my heart broke into a million pieces. My deepest understanding was that I’d been abandoned and replaced, by the person I loved and needed the most, and that it was somehow because something was wrong with me.

A few years later my own brother was diagnosed with brain cancer and died shortly after. For me, this sealed the deal on my inner wounding around my worthiness. I had lost almost everyone around me, and, as children do, I made it mean something about me and my deservedness. I wrote a suicide note around that time although luckily, I never followed through with the act.

Although the small warrioress in me powered through those tough times, the cracks of these experiences started to show as I entered into teenage years and early adulthood. I was wearing masks to try to fit in where I didn’t really belong, attracting unhealthy friendships and relationships, using my quickly developing body to gain validation of worthiness from men and not speaking up for myself when I needed to, in some cases for decades. In early teenage years I developed an eating disorder and by the time I was in my 2os unhealed trauma was starting to take a toll on my physical health in the form of gut health issues and hormone imbalances.

In my 20s I moved to Australia and for a number of years covered up the deep need for self-inquiry and healing, with a superficial veneer of party friends, fun in the sun and recreational drugs. I was having a great time on the outside, but my internal world was not getting the attention it needed. After a painful break up and further warning signs in my physical health, I was eventually called into a journey of deep healing that many would call a dark night of the soul.