S10 Ep2: From Occupational Therapist to Children’s Mental Health Specialist: Cat Taylor

Cat, in her own words, questioned school and authority when she was a child, but navigated her own way through this, so who better to work with young people now and help them find their own? Cat trained as an Occupational Therapist and she worked in a psychiatric unit for several years. But after many years of supporting children and young people in statutory services she decided to ‘pack up her tool-kit’ as she describes it. The system, she believes is broken, so now she’s helping parents access what they need, when they need it. Cat works as child and young person’s therapist and is also the Boxing Therapy Manager at the charity, Empire Fighting Chance, where she has helped thousands and thousands of young people turn transform their lives. (We’ve also interviewed the founder, Martin Bisp on this very podcast). Cat teaches them techniques not just to cope but thrive as the person they are – in short, how to be their true selves. She is all about having fun, and gives some great advice for us adults too – but warning alert: there’s some tough love in there. Cat speaks openly about where she thinks we are all going wrong with our young people, but she gives brilliant advice about how she believes we can fix this. Her mission is to take away stigma and labels and teach children what they can’t learn in school – Cat does this in such a warm and unique way, I learned so much from this conversation and I hope you will too. You can learn more about Cat and her work at : https://www.findyourhappiness.me/ And - in case you've forgotten - you can find me and my books here: https://www.elliebarkerwrites.com/