From suicidal thoughts following recurring traumatic events to professional growth using teaching about trauma, real self reveal and the importance of relationships.
At age 12, she started working at her family business, a little kiosk on the beach in a tourist place. She never liked it but "you need to learn you should work hard if you wanna make money".
At age 13, she was bullied for the first time because "she was different" (well, because "they couldn't understand"). Her intelligence wasn't tolerated.
At age 14, she realized that she had been mistreated multiple times just because her parents didn't come from a high social status.
At age 15, she directed all her anger into doing the one thing she could do better than anyone else: writing. She started blogging and basic coding.
At age 16, she was told she wouldn't be able to manage to work with vulnerable people/children and be successful due to her "bad manners" (bad manners = she didn't do what the abusers wanted or defined as "good").
At age 17, she was criticised because "she should not write about politics and society because she risks being killed and, anyway, she isn't supposed to know much about such subjects". Who is she to be intelligent, after all?
At age 18, "she wasn't good enough", as she had an offer to study at the University but "eh, not at the highest one". (By the way, she was studying to work with vulnerable people/children in the future!)
At age 20, she felt rejected by everyone and everything again (apart from her books), as she realized many men she had met were abusive and many women didn't very easily choose not to be victimised. It was way before "me too" movement, unfortunately for her.
At age 21, she was advocating human rights, as a desperate call after her rights were violated through verbal abuse. AGAIN.
At age 23, after her graduation, she opened her business and started working with vulnerable people/children with communication issues and neurological conditions.
At age 24, she was listening to people "explaining" (well, it was "mansplaining" to be fair) that she doesn't know about business or how to make money and that she needs to be "stronger" and "determined". The perfect coverage for an abusive country to be able to continue abusing its power against people or the poorest. She felt alone when she realised people were ready to support such claims.
At age 25, she realized she would never succeed in such toxic environments. She was depressed and started seeing a psychotherapist. She left the country and moved to the UK.
At age 27, she was studying full-time but also working to be able to survive. There were days that she didn't sleep to complete her assignments on time. She almost lost her exams because of her working conditions that didn't allow her to take off work (against the law but she didn't know how it worked and they took advantage). It was also when she noticed symptoms of an autoimmune disease for the first time.
At age 28, she graduated from one of the top UK Universities with a master's degree. She promised herself she would never stay in any work environment that doesn't treat humans fairly. She was a "weirdo" living on benefits. She didn't know what she liked, she was again in a toxic environment but it was the first time she had people around. She opened a business to enjoy being creative and to help people.
At age 29, she was suffering from severe depression again. It was when suicidal thoughts kicked in for the first time. She started seeing a psychotherapist again. However, she managed to direct AGAIN all her sadness into doing the one thing she could do better than anyone else: writing. She started teaching through her business.
At age 30, she got involved with prison monitoring and the Compassionate Prisons Project which aimed for trauma-informed prisoners and staff.
At age 31, she was on a proper holiday for 17 days for the first time in her life. She had clients who admired her. She was also with a partner who had the skills and deserved her time. She was feeling nice and loved after a long time.
At age 32, she expanded her business to transform not only people's lives but work environments. She aimed for psycho-educated employees and trauma-informed workplaces. She got a job in teaching and managed to earn as much as she was aiming for. Not with a poor socioeconomic status anymore. She had worked hard and she deserved everything. She knew that.
This woman is Christina, our CEO and Founder of The Psy Angles. Remember that she considered suicide at age 29?
"Work hard only for what you love or for what will take you to what you love", she advises. "It’s never too late. Never give up."
On how she came up with a company name she comments: "I felt my life had a purpose when I first thought of launching "The Psy Angles" (2019).
Our environment can shape the world and it can give a very bad meaning to it. Reality gives rise to truth and I realised that a supportive environment won't be true, won't be fact if it doesn't include real people. The only we need to be able to do is find, define, unlock, reveal, and express our real selves but that is not very easy sometimes if we have experienced trauma.
That is what I want my message to be to people, employees, everyone. That's how I launched the "trEAL" program (2023) to mean that from trauma(s) ('tr' with small letters because it is still there but we choose not to give it voice anymore) we can trust and reveal our Real selves ('EAL' with capital letters because it's what matters).
I would like to also mention the importance of relationships to be able to trust and be real, and that's how we come to the need of transforming society and workplaces. It surely feels good when you are surrounded by active listeners who are ready to support you non-judgmentally. Even with the most serious trust issues, the most suspicious people can think differently, try to open up and build healthy relationships when experiencing the good faith of others.
The Psy Angles' vision is to psychoeducate people about trauma, explain how trauma responses affect people in different aspects of their life, including work life, and demonstrate sufficient ways to help themselves and lift up others."
