So, I like helping people. I dont know quite where it started. As a child I was very timid and quiet, I would go bright red if anyone talked to me and struggled in social situations. I know this will be a shock to anyone who knows me now…. I am probably quite the opposite and speak my mind most of the time, but this is only after years and years of practice of hiding my own struggles. I think a lot of people with anxiety do this for self preservation purposes.
Anyway, I digress,
So I think that part of dealing with anxiety is that you really keep an eye on every single detail of what is going on in the room, you know, just in case there’s a massive disaster and the worse case scenario happens! (Obviously you have run through each one of these scenario’s in your mind, meaning that you can kind of keep an eye on everyone too). So that became my role, to make sure that all my friends were ok and feeling in control of what could happen, because I had already planned for worse case scenario, disaster movie-esq happenings, my worry was my friend.
Fast forward a few years after a bit of career experimentation and not really knowing what I wanted to do with my life, I found myself in a job where I could actually make a difference and help people, young people none the less. I was able to get my youth work qualification and get some real training on a variety of issues that are real for so many of our young people today. I was drawn to learning more about mental health, I think because I had struggled so much myself. I found a passion for helping young people learn more about themselves and inspiring them to realise that they mattered, and what they had to say mattered.
Ultimately to help them believe in themselves.
I had been thinking about how I could make more of a difference. I could see how much pressure was being placed on our young people with the rise of social media and 24/7 connection with the outside world through the World Wide Web, reality TV and ironically blog sites. This added to the pressure we all faced as teens, school, exams, friendships, hormones and growing up in general, means that somethings got to give. And this for a lot of young people is through their mental health as they are not emotionally ready to deal with all this pressure. Adults cannot deal with this pressure!
Now I have to stipulate that I am not a professionally registered mental health worker, counsellor or life coach, I’m not trying to be any one I’m not, my knowledge comes from personal experience, years of working with young people, courses and hours of research. The methods I use when I’m supporting young people comes from a youth work based model and a passion to want to help people to feel better about themselves. I make sure that people know this before I start working with them because I am honest, life is too short not to be.
So my insecurities about my own capabilities and what I can achieve are really out in the open with daisydoesn’t having a voice and you guys reading what I have to say. I’m facing my own fears by putting myself out there and talking about what I do and why I do it. People are telling me all the time to stop hiding my light under a bushel, but for someone who would rather be on the sidelines cheering others on, this is actually quite difficult.
So here goes, welcome to my journey friends…..
#daisydoesn't 