Growing up with a father who survived the Holocaust but never dealt with his PTSD had a huge impact on me. His unprocessed grief and anger bled into our family, and when he took his own life when I was 22, I carried that weight with me for years.

 

For a long time, therapy, self-help books, and being a member of Co-Counseling International gave me some relief. They helped me navigate the aftermath of my father’s suicide and allowed me to live a fairly functional life. But after my mother died of cancer when I was 42, and I moved from Australia to the U.S. to start a new relationship and job, everything came crashing down. I became emotionally frozen, fell into severe depression, and in 2017, for the first time in my life, I hit rock bottom. Overwhelmed by grief and emotions I had ignored for too long I even started contemplating ending my life, just like my father had.

 

It was my turning point. I knew I had to face my pain to heal. So during the pandemic, I took the time to create a safe internal space where I could finally listen to the parts of myself I had buried. I used techniques I’d learned in co-counseling and therapy, giving each part a voice, discharging years of stored emotion, and analyzing my patterns of behavior.

 

Through this process, I learned to let go of control, trust, forgive, and, most importantly, love all parts of me fully and unapologetically. By integrating the parts of myself that I had long hidden or ignored, I finally started healing those wounds. I documented this journey in what Brené Brown calls a “Shitty First Draft” and it became my survival story—how I adapted to my circumstances and learned which parts of me to show or hide.

 

 I want to support you on your journey to a wholehearted, vibrant life. While only you can do the work to heal, you don’t have to do it alone.