by Paula A

Created on: February 19, 2007   Last Updated: January 08, 2008

When you have had a really traumatic experience it is best if you can find someway to release it, whether you find your voice and talk about it or you write about it or maybe even paint it. Sharing it with someone else or using which ever method you chose is so beneficial, and will help you to feel better.

I kept quiet for so many years, I bottled it up and tried to bury it, I thought if I pushed it far enough away into the back of my head I could cope. I was so wrong!

As part of my counselling training I had to get my own therapy maybe on an unconscious level that was part of the reason I actually took the course. During one of the workshop exercise I revealed something about my past which I had never told anyone except my mum and she chose to ignore it.

Everyone was so supportive I was quite overwhelmed, people didn't judge me or walk out of the room, they sat quietly and listened to me. Afterwards my tutor congratulated me on being brave enough o share this experience, she gave me a hug and encouraged me to go into therapy sooner rather than later.

I decided to call a counsellor a couple of days later and went along to see her not really knowing what to expect. I had decided the person I would see had to be female because there was no way I could talk to a man about my past, it would be much to hard so I sought a woman.

She was an amazing person, really gentle and caring but also pushed me on some points which was so good for me because I might have just stayed on the surface things. Once I started talking I thought I would never stop, I told her about all the things which I had kept secret because I felt guilty and ashamed, it must have been my fault.

If you just can't face talking to someone writing about it is the also an excellent way to help yourself, you can write anything you want in any way you want, maybe in book form, articles, or letters to the person who hurt you or the one who didn't protect you.

The thing about writing is that you can do when ever, where ever you want and for as long as you want unlike counselling which is normally once a week for fifty minutes and then you have to stop. If you wake up at two o clock in the morning and you feel the urge to put pen to paper then you can but your therapist won't be happy if you call in the middle of the night!

It is truly wonderful how writing about your thoughts and feelings can be so therapeutic and doesn't cost much; you don't even have to share it with anyone unless you want to.

The other good thing is that it doesn't have to be written in any particular way, you can just scribble down what ever comes into your head, you can be angry, sad or anything you feel.

Just let yourself be indulgent and see what ends up on the page in any form you like, it doesn't even have to make sense because it's your release valve and you can blow your top for as long as you like without worrying about hurting anyone else, you can be you.

Once you have written your thoughts down read them out loud, either to yourself or to someone you trust, you will be totally amazed at how good you feel afterwards. Go on give it a go today, get out that pen and paper and see how many words you get down!

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