I tried therapy for the first time when I was 21 after my doctor recognised I had anxiety and depression. It didn't go well, to say the least (my doctor wanted to report the therapist).

 

At 23 I was sent to another therapist who also happened to be a psychiatrist who promptly diagnosed me with ADHD. I was so upset by this development I avoided therapy altogether for awhile. After quite a number of other false starts, it wasn't until I was 28 that I had any success with therapy and saw real results. 

 

I'd been interested in self development since a very young age, and now I was entirely hooked. In my mid thirties I left my film career to work for a coaching company, and started training in group coaching then person-centred counselling. For my second year of a counselling degree I fell upon the wrong school and teachers and ended up dropping out, along with 25% of the students that year. 

​

To save money to afford a better school, I started creating content for a well established London-based therapy group. It was supposed to just be for several months, but a decade passed, during which I became a personal development expert. I wrote thousands of popular articles on mental health, grew a blog to over 5 million visitors a year, designed coaching workshops and online courses, and educated myself on every type of therapy, approach, and diagnosis out there. A client with a PhD in psychotherapy kept joking I new more than her!

 

I also took courses in holistic therapies and brain training techniques, fascinated by the new ways of healing out there. 

​

And I kept trying therapists and making mistakes with my choices. Including one therapist who ended up splayed across the headlines of the Daily Mail for malpractice. Finally after that experience I realised I was going about choosing therapists all wrong and changed my approach. 

​

Suffice to say I am proof that we can evolve as people if we do the hard work. And that I have truly made every mistake possible when it comes to finding a good therapist... so that you don't have to!

​