Please change my life and help me to help others

My name is Stacey Marley, I'm 37 and have 2 young children. In March of this year I attended a course that changed my life.

From the age of around 6, until I left college at 17, I, like many others, experienced endless daily bullying, name calling, shoving, hair pulling, teasing, just endless taunting. It chipped away at me over the years and ultimately destroyed my self esteem and I viewed myself as worthless. During this time, at age 16 and whilst working doing a job I Ioved, I was assaulted in an armed robbery. Everyone I trusted and was close too supported me and encouraged me to return to work straight away to prevent any deep fear setting in. So a week later I returned to this job I loved so much, and the armed robber returned, this time with a large kitchen knife. My world fell apart from this moment. I lost trust in everybody. I felt totally alone. I spent weeks just sitting under the family dinning table, unable to come out as I just felt unworthy of life. These early experiences have held me back throughout my whole life as I believed I was not worthy of friendships, relationships, success in any form. And whilst I would try to always show a smile, inside my world has never felt happy. The course in March has changed that.

The course was run by The Essence Process, a worldwide organisation created and facilitated by Dr Menis Yousry, a highly skilled Family and Systemic Psychotherapist and Psychologist. I attended the foundation level course which gave me the opportunity to explore what has happened in my past and how to accept it in order to move forwards in life. It was truly life changing. I learnt so much about myself and all the ways I was holding myself back purely because of those things that happened so long ago. I started to believe that I could have true happiness in my life, it was possible and achievable. This has impacted not only on my view of myself but also my relationships with my children, wider family and friends. They have all noticed a difference in me and I am beginning to change how I and my children experience life.

I use to work with vulnerable children and young people, those who felt about themselves the way I viewed myself for so many years. I never really felt I could fully help them in a way that would make a difference. Having been a full time mum to my two young children for the last few years, I am now keen to return to this empowering work and feel I may be able to offer these young people a real sense of hope for their futures, in the way I am learning to feel.

And this is why I am asking for your help. The Essence Process also run an Advance Level course, which takes all the learning from the foundation stage to a much deeper level. It gives the opportunity to really experience life without personal limitations, to build positive beliefs and behaviour patterns and develop a real sense of confidence to achieve what you really want from life with nothing holding you back, no matter what your past experiences have been. It is a 5 day intensive course and is only held once a year in the UK, and without your support I simply wont be able to do it. Attending the course will have so many personal benefits to me and my direct family, but will also give me some key tools to help many other amazing and deserving young people.

I would be eternally grateful for any donation you can give to make this possible.