Vegan Therapist in Birmingham

A mutualistic relationship

On learning the truth, we can feel overwhelmed and powerless.

Acceptance of therapy has the potential to help them as well as us.

Potential for depression- Becoming aware of the pain and suffering of animals can feel like betrayal. The realisations can shock us to the core and bring us a pain that can often lead to depression.

The benefits of therapy- We need to acknowledge the pain we encounter and be willing to gain the support we may need. Therapy can allow us the strength to continue our aims to end the cruelty..

The impact of activism- Activism can also assist in improving our mental and emotional well-being and can feel therapeutic in itself. It can give us a sense of direction, a chance to rise above depression and the means to gain hope and optimism.

About Vegan Therapies

My experience as a vegan, activist and therapist has helped me understand the impact on people of the awareness of animal cruelty, the impact of activism, and the potential need for therapy. The range of feelings I know we can encounter is both broad and individual. They include shock, horror, sadness, helplessness, grief, guilt, pain, disappointment, anger, despair, a desire for escape, a yearning to help, and many more. Our ways of coping with these vary, and I think the important thing is to acknowledge our individual needs to help ourselves and ensure we do all we can for the animals.

My Passion

When I learned about animals’ pain and suffering, all other things in my life seemed to stop being my priority. Knowing what I now know makes me passionate to end the suffering and to help vegans who are pained by what they learn. Seeing the difference that mutual support and compassion can bring makes me feel hopeful that those who care can maintain their strength and emotional well-being to feel able to continue the battle to end the suffering and know that they are not alone.

My Goals

My goal here is to help those I feel are in need and deserving of help. I want to combat vegans’ pain and encourage an acceptance of support where needed. As a trained therapist, I want to use my skills to ease their mental and emotional exhaustion and allow them to acknowledge and gain much-needed support in order to continue their aims for a cruelty-free world.

Depression

The vegan diet has often been associated with depression. This is true, and there is a high rate of depression in vegans. However, it is clear this is not from the diet: it has been shown how healthy a plant-based diet can be. Depression is coming from the emotional pain of knowing and seeing animal suffering. It is like a form of empathy that many do not seem to share. This can lead to a feeling of aloneness and much of the pain we feel comes from the belief that nothing is being done to end animal suffering. This can lead to a full dip in emotional well-being and potential depression; this depression is very real and can impact greatly on our lives.

PTSD Post-traumatic stress

For some trying to end the suffering, the experiences can be traumatic, which can harm our emotional and mental well-being. These often include situations such as bearing witness, where the suffering of the viewed creature cannot be stopped. Two people could experience the same event, but the impact is not always identical. It is individual and defined as a person’s experience of a situation, not the experience itself. An event becomes PTSD when we are overwhelmed and cannot regulate ourselves as a result of the trauma.

Mental exhaustion

The impact of continued attempts to end the suffering can sometimes become too much. We see people experiencing mental exhaustion from putting their all into bringing change with little or no rest, and they reach burnout. This can lead people to end all of their efforts to end suffering in order to try to escape the pain. This is why it is so important to consider our own mental and emotional health if we want to continue the fight.

The need for support

The need for support can vary but having the option to receive support can impact our ability to cope and continue our lives. Many vegans trying to fight cruelty often prioritise their activism due to their focus being on those animals that suffer. Many feel that no human could ever feel like the animals do. But it is vital that mental and emotional strength is maintained if one wants to continue their fight. I feel that vegans who fight for the animals are more likely to accept support when they know that it will also benefit the animals we desperately want to help.

Vegan Therapy

I have had general counselling, but over time I’ve come to a point where I could no longer feel a benefit from a therapist who isn’t vegan. One of the key elements in all therapy is ’empathy’. The definition of empathy is, “the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person’s situation” (Cambridge dictionary). The definition goes on to say, “the capacity to place oneself in another’s position” (Bellet & Maloney – The importance of empathy).

In my role as a counsellor/therapist (from now on referred to as therapist), I have felt able to feel that empathy in relation to a client’s thoughts and feelings. Therapists may not have the ability to fully understand how our clients feel, but we focus heavily on the depth of our understanding. There are however some things that I feel conflict with the definition of empathy. Differences of views and beliefs between client and therapist need not impact the therapy as differences can be acknowledged, but when the therapist partakes in what is causing the pain for the client, we are breaching that empathy and cannot provide proper therapy. The best way I can explain this is as follows.

If a therapist was racist and provided therapy to a client pained by racism, how could they continue to be racist if they feel empathy towards them? If a therapist was homophobic and provided therapy for someone pained by homophobia, how could they continue to be homophobic if they feel empathy towards them? As unlikely as this seems I describe this only to demonstrate the difficulties faced by a vegan seeking therapy. I need to show how serious this is. This is how I feel that a therapist working with a vegan who is pained by the suffering of animals could only show empathy if they decided to stop consuming meat and dairy, the minute they create that therapeutic link.

In addition, I see that it is enough of a struggle to explain our thoughts and feelings in general, without having to attempt to gain vegan compassion from our therapist. I believe we have the fullest therapy experience if a vegan gets help from a vegan therapist.

Free Consultation

If you are unsure and would like to talk about whether you would like to start you can have a 20-minute free consultation.

No commitments will be needed.

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