My friends, my family, my communities, brothers and sisters and elders, if you feel moved by what follows, I need your support…

I’ve been offered a place on a three-year part-time program in London to train as a counsellor and psychotherapist starting this November. This feels like a life-changing opportunity, not only for me but for those I hope to serve.

Supporting my training means investing in a therapist who can stand with those who are under-witnessed: queer, biracial, and intersectional people whose stories deserve a place of deep recognition.

Healing has been my true north. My life has been a baptism of fire – an initiation that has shaped me for this path. If you know me, you know that I’ve weathered storms, and I’m learning to celebrate them as opportunities, even as gifts.

Now, I am called to transform another wound: the difficulty of being witnessed while asking for help.

My Story

My name is Cole. I am the living convergence of colonisation on both my mother’s and father’s sides. I am the son of a Welsh farming family and the grandson of "Windrushers" who arrived in Britain from Dominica in the 1950s.

I am also gay, and endured years of bullying in secondary school because of it. I was raised in a single-parent household in the poorest borough of London. As a biracial queer man, I know what it is to be “othered.” And yet these intersections, though painful, have shaped me in profound and beautiful ways.

Therapy has been transformative in my life. It has helped me make meaning from my experiences, heal my wounds, and begin to understand the impact of my childhood. Friends and mentors have long reflected that I would make an excellent therapist. I’ve seen glimpses of that: teaching restorative yoga, mentoring queer teens, answering calls at Samaritans, and working in nonprofits. Holding space for healing and rites of passage feels like a natural next step.

Why This is Bigger than Me

The programme I’ve been accepted to, Re-Vision in London, is unlike any other. Its approach is soul-centred, integrative, and deeply attuned to the precarious times we are living in. I attended their four-day introductory ‘Transitions’ course.

I was the only Black aspirant in a group of around twenty.

Representation matters. According to the UKCP, only 2.8% of counsellors and psychotherapists in a member survey, identified as Black. Mental health challenges disproportionately affect ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ communities, yet we face systemic barriers to accessing equitable care.

This is why my presence, and the presence of others like me, matters in therapy rooms. We need more therapists who understand the intersections of race, sexuality, class, neurodivergence, and lived experience.

And we need them now.

Where Your Support Will Go

Even with the rare and generous 50% bursary I was awarded by this prestigious programme, I cannot afford the remaining costs on my own.

Here’s what your support will go towards:

Any amount over what’s needed will go towards funding the second year of the training. Thank you so much for your generosity.

What Your Support Makes Possible

Supporting me in this training is about more than one person’s dream. It is about making psychotherapy more accessible, more diverse, and more representative of the communities it serves.

I believe I am called to be a ferryman — to walk with others through their hardest crossings. I held my grandfather’s hands as he passed, singing hymns into his ears as he lost his sight, and I’ve sat on city concrete breaking bread with strangers who felt invisible. This path is about carrying forward that same presence; offer conversations and rites of passage for others, but with professional skill and structure.

I also committed to “paying it forward.” Inspired by my own therapist Paul who has seen me at no cost when I haven’t been able to afford to pay, I intend to dedicate part of my future practice to supporting those who cannot afford therapy — especially queer and biracial people: those of us who straddle the line of acceptance most.

Part of me resists asking for help. But I believe that asking — and receiving — is part of my healing.

If you feel moved, please consider supporting my journey:

If you believe in this, we can make it possible for me to step into this calling and support others in theirs.

With belief, love, and enormous gratitude,

Cole