Hello! My name is Aylssa and I am originally from the UK (Newcastle upon Tyne) but have been living in South East Asia for the past 6 years.
My job has pretty much always been working with young people, specifically teenagers. I trained as a Community and Youth Worker, graduating from Durham University in 2003 and since then have worked in centre-based youth work, as a detached worker, in outdoor education, as a specialist sex and relationships education worker, in advice and information / crisis management, and currently as a school counsellor at a British international school where I’ve been since 2014.
Alongside working with young people I’ve also, for the past 15 years, trained other professionals in areas specific to young peoples lives from drugs and alcohol to mental health to sex & relationships.
But I guess that’s only part of the story.
I’m a migrant. I left the UK twice. First for the Marshall Islands and then for Brunei. Some would call me an expat, but for many reasons I won’t go into here I dislike the term.
I am a cat mam. I have 3 cats and no human babies. I worked in reproductive health for too long & never quite got round to it. It’s okay.
I perform stand up comedy sometimes. Which has led me into other random situations like being a YouTube food critic and acting on a Bruneian drama. But you only live once, right?
