YOU & YOUR HEALTH
Helping others
TAYLOR MADE
DREAMS Suzi Mitchell, CEO of children’s charity Taylor Made Dreams, shares why she started a charity that provides holistic therapy and provides bucket list experiences for children with life limiting conditions…
T
AYLOR Made Dreams is a registered charity based in the South East of England. Before I thought of setting up the charity back in 2010, my working life had predominately been in the care industry. I worked for the social services supporting children in care, within an inclusion unit in education, supported women in domestic violence situations and was an assistant manager in a house supporting vulnerable adults. I had taken courses in counselling skills, art therapy, and autism awareness. I also held a diploma in Welfare Studies.
After having my children, I planned to become an Arts Psychotherapist. I had survived traumas in my own life, not least losing my mother from injuries sustained in a car crash when I was 16. I’d always been intrigued by the journey of selfdiscovery, about looking deeper into the self, peeling away the onion skins to
discover what was at the real core of me. In 2009, my son Taylor became unwell. I needed to take Taylor to the USA for proton radiotherapy treatment, his only option. Having invested almost 20 years of my life in counselling and arts psychotherapy, I’d experienced periods of blinding pits of endless darkness and by doing so, allowed myself to feel the pain and anger I needed to express, climb up through the light and feel the rebirth of a lighter self which was a very cathartic process. That pain I endured was nothing in comparison to the pain I was yet to experience from the loss of my son Taylor in 2011. No, that pain was and is a different pain...there are simply no words for that pain. The inconceivable and unbearable loss of Tay forced me to turn my gut-wrenching grief into building blocks. I wanted to build a legacy to create smiles in the eyes of children with illness in Taylors’ name, I wanted Taylor to live on in a positive way. Taylor was my inspiration, and always will be alongside all the other amazing children we work with at here Taylor Made Dreams.
OUR SERVICES Taylor Made Dreams enables children with life limiting and terminal conditions to achieve their dreams when life is sadly all too short. The services we offer are; Bucket Lists- tailor-made to the wishes of the child. Holistic Therapy – to support the entire family and provide some much needed respite in very challenging times. Counselling – to support the emotional needs of the whole family. Medical Sheepskin Fleeces – to help in the prevention of pressure sores/provide comfort and warmth for those who are immobile due to illness. Family Portraits – to create precious memories for the future. Medical Travel Grants – to ease the financial pressures of attending numerous essential medical appointments.. Memory Pendants – a precious keepsake
58
HOLISTIC THERAPIST 2021
holistictherapistmagazine.com
