In 2011 I was stopped from taking my own life. A story I've not really told. Because in 2019 I lost my 27 year old cousin to suicide. Maybe survivor's guilt prevented me from centering myself. Maybe because I hadn't fully joined the dots.

I strongly suspected antidepressants played a role in his death. I even asked the Coroner about it at the inquest and was quickly shut down. It was very recently that I realised my own attempt was months after I'd been on antidepressants. I'd only taken them a few weeks. I stopped because they gave me terrible migraines. Learning that antidepressant use could be linked to up to a third of cases of people dying from suicide, was the missing piece in the jigsaw.

Now it makes sense as to why I've been almost obsessed with understanding more about suicide prevention. Taken multiple courses and volunteered for lived experience groups and campaigns. Why I've come to the conclusion that suicide happens at the intersection of hopelessness, helplessness and powerlessness. “I can't be helped.” “I can't help myself.” “Nothing anyone can do can help me.”

It’s why I'm passionate about RTT hypnotherapy as an alternative to medication and self-medication. No shame or judgement intended. From the work I’ve done on being trauma-informed, I know that addiction is a coping mechanism for unhealed trauma, grief and loss.

I also know you don't need years and years of therapy. Rapid Transformational Therapy does what it says on the tin. You can be helped. You can help yourself. Something can be done to help you.

My personal story includes experiencing racism, having bricks through the window, being locked in a cupboard for my own safety as a child because of the threat of racial violence, feeling like an outsider in school, being raped by my boyfriend in my 20s, being in a relationship in my 40s where I was coercively controlled and trauma bonded, losing my cousin to suicide, finally escaping the trauma bond and feeling safe, free and at peace.

I received RTT hypnotherapy in 2020 to get to the root cause of my visibility fears. I’d internalised that it wasn’t safe to be seen, from the childhood incident where I was locked in the cupboard for my own safety. Releasing the grip of that fear has meant that I’ve gone from not taking selfies and refusing to do WhatsApp video calls with my own family, to happily posting selfies on social media, and being filmed, speaking, dancing, doing open mic poetry and even singing.

This freedom to be visible enabled me to contribute towards getting more than 128,000 signatures on a petition calling for a statutory duty of care campaign for university students. Which then led to a parliamentary debate. With 12 days to go before the petition deadline, we were at 32,000 signatures. 100,000 signatures were needed for the parliamentary debate. Many said it couldn’t be done. I ramped up my activity on LinkedIn, encouraging strangers to sign and share the petition. One family went viral on Facebook and another on Twitter. Collectively we made it happen. And I had people in my inbox asking to find out more about me, because apparently I was all over their LinkedIn feed. My cousin was a final year Med student.

This is a story about suicide and about reinventing your life after trauma, grief and loss.

I've done it and I'm here to share my blueprint, so you can do it too.

If feeling safe to be you, free to fully express yourself and being truly at peace are important to you, then you're in the right place.

If your soul is craving PURPOSE driven IMPACT and you'd like to stand out, without burnout or self doubt, then most definitely read on.