[Celyn]

It's difficult, trying to carry on with life and then coming across someone else's story that you really relate to and then suddenly all the memories and emotions come back, isn't it? While it can be helpful to hear others stories and relate to them, it can also be very painful, especially if there are things we haven't talked about or dealt with.

Naturally, you are going to be feeling angry and wondering why no-one helped and imaging what life would've, or could've been like, if someone had intervened. Sometimes, people are genuinely unaware of things that go on, or perhaps they may be in denial and don't want to think about what might've been going on. Or maybe someone had suspicions but didn't know how to help, or were worried about what might happen if they had intervened. While it doesn't excuse what happened, it is one way of trying to think about things to help deal with the anger that no-one intervened. You deserved help and I'm really sorry that no one was there for you when you were younger.

You can also think of how different things are today in comparison with when you were younger. For example, professionals have more training on safeguarding issues today than they might've done when you were younger. The same goes for autism and adhd. Professionals now have a much better understanding of autism and adhd (and how that makes us more vulnerable to abuse) then when we were younger. It was probably more common to think that adhd is just being hyper and 'naughty' 20-30 years ago, whereas now we understand that there could be environmental things like being overly stimulated that may be behind behaviour that gets labelled as 'naughty'.

I'm also sorry that you felt your autism and adhd were blamed and that you were made to take anger management, especially if no-one considered reasons besides autism/adhd. It also doesn't help that sometimes professionals don't communicate with other professionals or consider other things. For example, the symptoms of autism/adhd can look like abuse and neglect, so some professionals might focus on one to the exclusion of the other and not think about the possibility of both. But hopefully, with the right training, professionals will be able to do better in this area.

It may not be a good idea to reach out to the celebrity, but I'm wondering if there are others on social media who may have watched the same interview and perhaps shared their own thoughts and experiences online? If it's safe enough, you could also share some of your own thoughts, but even if you don't, it can help to know that you aren't alone. Alternatively, you could also write down your memories and how it makes you feel. You can also think about how far you have come since then, how strong you are and all the good things you've done and have in your life now. You might also want to plan some self-care afterwards and think about distractions and other things to keep busy to try to keep you from re-visiting these memories and keeping you stuck in anger. I also agree with Dez, about trying to talk to someone from your group or someone who is there to support you.

Stay strong <3