I had pretty much the worst childhood you can have as a white* girl in the UK, and all I’ve ever really wanted is to use it to do something good in the world. I sit somewhere between the two quotes above: surviving my childhood both did and didn't define who I became. I believe it's possible to take what's happened to you and then use it meaningfully in the world. Viktor Frankl talks about this in his memoir 'Man's Search for Meaning' and his psychology lecture series 'Yes To Life in Spite of Everything.' 

I was trafficked as a child and also survived torture. That does some things to a person, but I maintain that you can still live a fulfilling, mostly good life even if you've survived The Horrors™️. And I believe that because I've found it to be true. Which isn't to say that things are never hard, or that my childhood finally became irrelevant. When you've been through really terrible things, it will have an impact probably for the rest of your life. I'm disabled as a result of my childhood, and have progressive health conditions which are constant reminders of what I've survived. That can be a good thing and a bad thing: I'm reminded that I'm a total badass, but I'm also reminded that I'm exhausted. The nuance of that is important to me: people often try to categorise others into "sad victim" or "inspirational survivor" boxes, without understanding that someone can be both of those things and many more besides. I'm working on a number of different projects to try to help people understand that, including: 

• That Final Girl Life, a podcast which looks at a different horror movie each week and asks what life would be like for the final girl once she's survived it; 

• Participating in research studies such as Recovery Histories, Queer Romani & Traveller Mental Health Inequalities and more;

• Representing disabled survivors of trafficking & torture in my PhD funding body's Diversity & Inclusion working group.