I had never, up until that point, I'd never taken my trauma seriously, and this is such a huge piece for anybody listening who was struggling out there because a huge, huge part of why I felt so stuck and so hopeless and so alone was because I believed the narrative that pull you socks up, get on with it.

So when she said, this is going to be intense, you're going to be reliving your trauma. I went, yep, yep, yep, cool, nothing really happened to me.

So that was my narrative, but then there's something quite special done about sitting there. You're doing this bilateral stimulation with your eye movements and your entire body is transported back in time.

And you are sobbing the noises that I made.

Welcome to how my parents raised me, I'm Dawn Chitty. When we are born, we arrive here as pure and perfect souls, and the direction our life takes from that moment is deeply connected to what our parents bring to our lives.

And what our parents bring to our lives is deeply connected to what their parents brought to their lives, and that's the cycle of families.

I have always craved connection with real and raw stories to understand what makes you you, what makes you the absolutely unique human that you are.

Stories are medicine for the soul, they can connect us, and they can change the world. And so in this podcast, I'm listening to beautiful souls sharing their story.

What happened to them, how they got through, and how they have healed and thrived despite everything to arrive right here in this moment.

Content warning, if you are triggered by the themes of this podcast, please seek a help line in your city.

Hey beautiful souls, I am so excited to have my friend Emma back on the podcast this week. She is such a light, and the way she tells her story is so relatable.

We spoke to Emma earlier in the year, and we're talking now about Emma's healing journey over the past few months since we last spoke.

And through Instagram, I have watched Emma struggling with her brutal EMDR sessions, and trying desperately to get on top of the triggers that have been driving her life for way too long.

It reminds me so much of my own journey, and I suspect that it will strike accord with you too. Emma is so raw and honest in what she shares here.

This is part one of Emma's story.

Emma, welcome back. We had such a beautiful chat earlier this year, and you shared your story and so many amazing insights from your journey so far.

And then just in the past six or seven months, I can see by watching your Instagram account, there's been a huge amount of growth and change for you.

And you talk about your triggers and difficulties with so much honesty that we don't often see from anyone because we're all trying to present this shiny filtered version of ourselves to the world.

For anyone that didn't hear your previous episodes, please go and check them out because they were such beautiful episodes.

Can you explain where you were at say this time last year?

Oh my goodness. Yes. So this time last year was just as I was starting therapy.

So I've spoke to you about that in the previous episodes, and it was a point, it was a big turning point in my life where I decided I needed to give myself that chance to

...