For a long time, I struggled to understand my own identity as a transgender man, and everything that came with it. I've felt firsthand how patriarchal thinking pushes communities like mine to the margins. Through that struggle, I realized something important: before I could ever support others, I needed to become mentally strong enough to carry my own weight first.

            What pushed me toward mental health work was simple. There weren't enough counsellors who truly understood people like us. That gap, combined with the cost of getting help, meant many of us simply went without. I had been one of them. More than once, I couldn't access the support I needed. That experience became my motivation. I wanted to become someone my community could turn to, in a space that actually felt safe.

            So I spent a year studying and learning everything I could about mental health on my own. That's when I found FAITH.

            At first, I wasn't sure this would be a safe place for me. But that doubt didn't last long. The environment was respectful, inclusive, and safe from the start. The turning point was FAITH's 20 days counselling training. The mentors broke down real mental health situations in ways that were easy to grasp, and the videos captured experiences I had never been able to put into words myself.

Through this training, I learned to understand the layered, complex challenges facing marginalized women and communities like mine and how to actually show up for people carrying that weight. With these new skills, I began running regular counselling sessions, and even providing emergency support for transgender men in suicidal crisis.

            Looking back, I've done what I set out to do. FAITH didn't just prepare me to help others. It strengthened me, as a transgender man, as a person, and as an advocate for my community's rights. My own lived experience finally became something practical, a skill I could use.

            Today, I provide psychosocial first aid and counselling to transgender men in my community. I know what it's like to be turned away, and now I know how to make sure someone else isn't.

               This journey taught me something I didn't fully believe before, "I am not alone, and I can bring about change."