This series we’re following Hayley, whose traumatic upbringing has resulted in severe depression and anxiety, as well as debilitating obsessive compulsive disorder. Hayley has come to In Therapy because she’s decided enough is enough, and wants to live the rest of her life free from the constraints of the past.

Have you ever asked yourself: "Am I worthy of therapy?" Most of us, at some point, have needed help but haven't asked for it. We tell ourselves it's reserved for "people with real problems" and that we don't qualify. But the truth is, we all struggle and we're all worthy of help. This week, we meet Hayley, whose lifelong feeling of low worth has had catastrophic consequences...

One of the impacts of childhood trauma is that we can feel overly merged with and responsible for those around us. Creating healthy boundaries is a critical step towards liberating ourselves from the past and creating life on our own terms. This is some of what Hayley and I get into in this week's episode...

So much of our energy in life goes into what other people think about us. But, we can never know what people truly think, and ultimately it doesn’t matter. What matters is what we think of ourselves. In this week’s episode, Alex and Hayley work on cultivating an accurate and loving self-image.

One of the challenges when we’ve experienced trauma is that we learn to focus on what is wrong about ourselves and the world around us. As a result, we not only ignore only our inherent sense of goodness, but also our achievements and accomplishments in life. By shifting our focus to celebrate and embody the best of ourselves, we are learning to invite more of this into our lives.

A common misconception is that anger is a “bad” emotion. But in its purest form, anger is our life force energy rising up and standing up for our boundaries, along with the power behind us stepping forward for the things that matter most to us in life. We need our anger and to unlock its potential for living our best life. This is just some of what Hayley and I get into in this week’s episode…

The foundations of how we relate to ourselves and those around us is almost entirely established in childhood. In this week's session, Hayley and I begin to explore how she was related to as a child, and what effect this has had on her life. Ultimately, to heal the traumas of the past, we need to listen that younger us, and give them the boundaries, safety and love that they needed.

When we’ve experienced traumas in childhood, the conclusion that we often draw is that we must have been weak; but often the opposite is true. The very fact that we survived the experience, and managed to develop the coping strategies to function in the world, is a sign of how strong we are. Unlocking and owning this strength is often the key to building our future the way we want it.