We love featuring trailblazing women on Love & Nudes - in fact - it is part of our WomenFirst manifesto to support, encourage, and uphold amazing women. We are excited to feature Melanie Kataha an Emotional Wellness Coach & Counsellor. Check out her story below.

Tell us a little about your passion and business. What is it about?

I am an Emotional Wellness Coach & Counsellor who is passionate about educating others on how to become more self-aware of their emotions and the emotions of others, how to release guilt and shame from past trauma that is negatively impacting decisions they make in relationships.

What is the change that you would like to bring to society?

I would like to see a society that is more accepting of others, supportive of those being harmed, gain understanding, and be less judgemental. I would love to see people have the ability to deal with their emotions and live by their values.

What happened to make you want to do this? Tell us what drove you to start this.

As a victim of childhood trauma, I later became aware of how greatly it affected my life choices, with little support. I started working with people who were in crisis and realized I can use my experience as a valuable education to teach others how to heal from their own trauma. I also wanted the ability to operate from values that align with my purpose.

As a professional, I realized I had not committed myself to my emotional work/healing and began that journey realizing that I can only be the best at what I do if I utilize the tools I had been giving to people.

How do you think being a woman of colour has impacted your journey?

My entire identity had been shattered, and not only did I have to learn how to heal my wounds from sexual abuse, but I had to also find out who I really was. Culturally, we are taught to keep silent, that our voices do not matter, and if we do speak up, we are seen as creating an issue and being rebellious. It adds layers to barriers women have to face when creating boundaries for themselves and reaching out for help.

Have you had a remarkable breakthrough or a win that you would like to share with our readers? We all love hearing success stories! Tell us yours!

For me, a win is when I am used as a vessel to help others overcome obstacles in their own life and this was demonstrated about a year ago when  I was working with a young girl in her late teens. She was discharged from the hospital for the day so she could connect with me. She looked pale, had markings on her body, stoic, and her body language was uninterested. It was her 3rd time attempting to end her life hence the reason she was in the hospital. After disclosing that she was recently sexually assaulted, we spent that hour talking about how she was feeling and made a plan to move forward just for another day. At our next session, after being surprised that she was eager to meet me again, I shared some tools she can use to help cope with the suicidal thoughts and let her know that her feelings were quite normal given her experience. Fast forward to the end of session 5, she was smiling, a bit excited to learn more, created an emotional safety plan with me, and was more hopeful towards her future. I am grateful that I was able to utilize my life experiences to teach others how to get through another day and fight to stay alive!

What do you want the world to know?

I want the world to know that we all must work diligently at our characters and emotional wellbeing, there is no final destination to the perfect self, and we must always stay committed to improving our overall wellbeing especially when it seems like everything is great.

You can get in touch with Melanie Kataha, Emotional Wellness Coach on www.lighterlifetherapy.com

Melanie photographed by Ricky @sincerelyimage

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