I never set out to write a book.

Take the Plaster Off began during my own therapy journey, when I took part in a simple creative writing exercise. I thought I was writing about something that had happened to me. I’d told the story before, I knew it well.

But as I began to write, something shifted.

For the first time, I wasn’t just remembering what had happened. I was beginning to connect with the feelings I had carried underneath it.

That was when I realised I hadn’t been carrying the story itself; I'd been carrying the feelings I had never fully allowed myself to feel. 

That experience changed the way I understood myself, and it became the starting point for Take the Plaster Off.

Over the years, through my own personal journey, my professional life and the privilege of listening to other people’s stories, I began to notice something: our experiences may be completely different, but the ways we learn to protect ourselves are often remarkably similar. 

We keep busy. We become strong. We people-please. We strive for perfection. We shut down. We convince everyone, including ourselves, that we’re fine.

I began to think of these as our invisible plasters. They aren’t weaknesses. They are simply the ways we learned to survive.