Responding to Age-Trauma: Youth Doula work combines play, joy, and healing through an anti-ageist perspective. Many of us who experience trauma have to grow up too fast. We are forced into a world of adulthood "responsibility", forgoing our need for care - as a youth doula I hope to repair this and help us attend to our age-trauma. Age-trauma describes an experience specific to anti-child ageism when our autonomy, ability, articulation, emotions, opinions are constantly doubted, called into question or seen as ‘cute’.” — Aiyana Goodfellow, Has Oppression Found A Home in You? A reflective introspection on age-trauma. Age-trauma (also coined by me) is the result of growing up in an anti-child ageist society; often harm is inescapable particularly because we exist in the disempowered identity of 'child'. Similar to racialised- or gendered-trauma, it refers to the personal impact of systemic oppression. My Youth Doula work recognises all systemic oppression as traumatic on some level and knowing our whole bodies are affected by this, I gravitate towards somatic support tools. Core Values of Youth Doula Work: Accountable Growth for the world and ourselves by acknowledging harm felt and harm caused, and by knowing that we are never really "grown-up". Accountability is not a place at which we arrive but a journey we take, and I, in turn, aim to be accountable to you too. Collaborative Autonomy by respecting your boundaries, letting you take the lead, seeing you as the authority on your own experiences, and keeping strict confidentiality, whilst also offering my own advice and expertise. Playful Healing that connects to childishness, recognises trauma, is experiential and explores with curious creativity. Healing doesn't have to be intimidating; youth doulaship aims to make it fun! Training & Experience: I see the importance of both lived and learnt experiences. I use both to guide me as a Youth Doula! I have completed multiple workshops and trainings by a range of somatic trauma therapists, activists, researchers, writers, and organisations including crisis response, anti-carceral suicide training, boundary work, and most notably my scholarship-awarded Somatic Attachment Therapy Certificate with The Embody Lab. The list is long, and ever growing, but I will always do additional research whether or not what you need is outside my scope of lived or learnt experience.

I support young people 14+ through the transformative times of childhood such as navigating the school system; puberty, gender & sexuality; family struggles; internalised ageism; transitioning into adulthood, and more. I work not as a parent, teacher, therapist, or other "authority" figure, but as a peer. I support adults connect to their childishness, which can be an essential component for healing the disconnection and fragmentation that trauma can leave us with. I can help you navigate difficult parental or familial relationships; building secure attachment; accessing play; tending to childhood wounds; contextualising experiences through oppression dynamics, and more. I am also available to consult parents, teachers, youth workers, community groups, and families around raising and educating young people, the school system, adult privilege, and much more, from my perspective as a teenager. I can give advice around supporting queer & trans, disabled, neurodivergent, Black, or working class children to help you be in better solidarity with the young people you engage with.

I offer personalised care plans which are tailored to your needs and can for last 4-8 sessions, with the option to renew as often as you like. Your plan could include... emotional support and advice practical and relational skill-building play dates - where we do something joyful and childish together! additional tasks/activities for between sessions Furthermore, I offer small group or 1:1 advice sessions to parents, caregivers, youth workers, community groups, and families. This can be done through a one-off or longer-term care plan. You may want to focus on a specific experience/transition in your life, or multiple at the same time - all intentions are welcome!