I'm Kirsty, and this page exists because of where I've been
I'm not a large organisation, and I'm not writing this from a place of theory. I'm a mum, a wife, and the founder of Verella, and I've lived through some genuinely difficult chapters that shaped why I care about this so much.
As a teenager, I left home and ended up living in a hostel, a choice I made to escape an abusive situation, not something that simply happened to me. I experienced things no young girl should have to go through. I know what it feels like to be scared, unsupported, and unsure if anyone is actually going to help you. I also know what it feels like to slowly, messily, find your way back from that.
Today I'm raising a child with additional needs, navigating my own neurodivergence, and running a business I built from absolutely nothing. None of it has been a straight line. I've had failures along the way that would have stopped most people, and I kept going anyway.
"I built this page because I needed something like it once, and it didn't exist. So I made it myself."
This site is me, personally, doing what I can, sharing videos I record myself, guides I've put together, and resources I trust, for any teenage girl or woman who needs somewhere honest to land. It isn't a registered charity and there's no big team behind it. It's just someone who's been there, trying to make the road a little less lonely for the next person walking it.
Why psychology, specifically
Understanding why we feel what we feel has always pulled at me
Alongside everything else, I've always been fascinated by psychology and human behaviour, why people think the way they think, why trauma shows up in the body the way it does, and what actually helps someone move from surviving to living again.
I spent time studying psychology at degree level, with a particular focus on child development, while also home-schooling my own son. I didn't finish that course, life had other plans, and I paused it to put everything into building Verella, but the curiosity never left me. I'm still, and will probably always be, a student of human behaviour.
I'm not a licensed therapist or psychologist, and I want to be completely upfront about that. What I bring here is lived experience, genuine study, and a real, ongoing interest in the science of healing, not a clinical qualification. The guides and videos on this site are shaped by that perspective: practical, human, and rooted in things that have actually helped me and the people I've supported, alongside what credible research says.
Why I'm doing this
Because someone needed to make this exist
I know what it's like to search for help and find nothing that felt like it was actually for you, just clinical leaflets, long waiting lists, or content that feels miles away from your real life. I wanted to build something different: a place that feels like it was made by someone who gets it, because it was.
Every video I upload, every guide on this site, comes from a genuine place, not because I'm trying to build an audience, but because I remember exactly what it felt like to need this and not have it. If even one girl or woman feels a little less alone because of something on this page, it's done its job.
A quick, honest note: this site is a personal resource, not a registered charity or a crisis service. If you're in danger or need urgent help, please contact emergency services or one of the helplines listed on the teens or women's pages, they're staffed by trained professionals who can support you immediately.