Growing up, you might have thought something was wrong. You might have been told that explicitly, and certainly it was implied. The films and the books and the adverts never used to show people like you. Now, when they do, it’s a story, still.

As a child, you might have felt alone, like no one understands, like there was no one like you. When you heard the comments from friends and loved ones, you didn’t challenge them. On some level, maybe, you even agreed.

And perhaps too, there was violence, from people you loved and people you barely knew. And there were laws, crises the state chose not to avert. Perhaps, this is not a past event. You might be experiencing it, right now. And if you are, I am sorry. I hate that it has come to this.

You may have spent years living in the shadows. It is safer there, no doubt. But there is no light. You need light to grow.

I cannot undo the world we live in and the world in which you lived. But I can make space for you. You can show up here. All of you. No explanations required.

In therapy, we will shine a light on all of you, your whole experience. You had to learn how to hide a part of yourself as a child, and how to perform as something you were not. We will unlearn that, together. The monsters under the bed may make themselves known. But we will face them. First, we peep, then we look for longer. Soon, we are staring them, and ourselves, in the face.