1. You need to find the right professional to talk to. This can be harder than you realise. Not everyone is going to understand what you’ve been through, or what you are going through.

2. Finding the right person (someone who is caring, non-judgmental and empathic) is more important than certificates and degrees.

3. Counseling means having you story heard, and held, by someone who “gets it”. It also requires endless hard work on your part.

4. You are going to think things, and feel things, and react in ways you never could have imagined. And that is absolutely terrifying at times.

5. Coping skills are difficult to develop. It is going to take time. A lot of time.

6. The trauma, and your attempts to recover from the trauma, will take over your life.

7. You’re going to need to find safe places where you can just be…