My Life in Thirty Seven Therapies: From Yoga to Hypnosis and Why Voodoo is Never the Answer by Kay Hutchison
Kay Hutchison had it all: a successful career, a beautiful home, and a loving husband. But her life changed forever one annual holiday, and it started with "I’m leaving." Going solo, Kay embarked on a unique journey of self-discovery. From colonic irrigation to cupping and reiki to reflexology, Kay found herself calling psychics, going to healers and tarot card readers, and dabbling in past-life regression, sonic therapy, silent retreats, astrology, shamanic retreats and much, much more. This book is the funny, moving and occasionally harrowing account of one woman’s search for the truth, from the sunshine of Spain to deep inside the psyche of her Scottish childhood. The result is an unusually candid exploration of both the challenges and opportunities of middle age.
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Kay Hutchison is a content creator with extensive experience in radio, television and publishing. After gaining her BMus and MA in music at Glasgow University, she joined Decca Records in London and then BBC Radio as a Producer. Kay moved across to television with Channel 4 and went on to lead the launch teams for Disney TV and Channel Five. In the build-up to the 2012 London Olympics, she successfully led the legacy partnership that delivered a long-term future for the multi-million-pound Olympics Broadcast Centre. Kay founded her own company, Belle Media and launched Belle Kids in 2015, producing multi-platform, conservation-focused content for children.
This book is exactly what I was looking for while I'm trying to get a feel for writing my own memoir. I went to my first therapy session two years ago and my world exploded realizing maybe the reason therapy is so secret and kept in the shadows is because the people who go know how well it works and want to keep it all to themselves. I was thrilled to find a way to lighten a burden life had put on me and then realizing how many different forms existed, I wanted to try them all!
This book is exactly what I was looking for describing her personal journey and reactions to each different form, but also providing detail about each therapy. I wished there was a little more detail about each, but this book was more about the first two words of this title then the last three. I had no idea there were so many options, so I was happy to be introduced to so many and this book was a jackpot find for me. I loved getting in her headspace before and after each treatment to see our similarities and differences in the way I might approach each and be able to decide for myself if I might want to try that therapy myself.
I will be honest that about halfway through I started skimming over paragraphs about her personal life because I was searching out the therapies. I might reread it for the enjoyment of a memoir later, but honestly I picked this book because of the title and wanted to dive into the therapy options. I understand it would have not been a very long or enjoyable book without the fluff of background information and I wouldn't have been able to connect to the therapies as well not understanding the reason for them so I do appreciate the personal experiences.
Top Ten Things You Didn't Know About the Book
Kay Hutchison - Author
1. The 37 Therapies of the title are not actually the only therapies I have tried. I selected the therapies that helped me tell the central story - the memoir.
2. Although I mention psychotherapy as a single therapy, I saw five separate psychotherapists and each one revealed something totally different and had a unique way of working.
3. I continue to be interested in discovering new therapies - Moxibustion, Alexander Technique, Hydrofusion, Rolfing, Akashic Records to name a few.
4. I might never have written and published my book if it wasn’t for helping write my father’s biography. That experience started me on a new journey.
5. I might have been able to publish the book myself (I run a small publishing company producing children’s books). Because it was such a personal story, I decided to go through the submission process with a number of publishers.
6. I love working with women – the all-girl team at Red Door Publishing read the manuscript, immediately understood what I was trying to say and were keen to publish. I have nothing against working with men (my business partner is a man) but for this project it felt right.
7. I started writing the book at the National Writing Centre of Wales after a friend begged me to go with her on a writing course Mavis Cheek was running. She loved Mavis Cheek’s writing. I was happy to oblige, but had no idea where it would lead.
8. I completed the story at Scotland’s Creative Writing Centre near Loch Ness.
Beautiful rugged Scottish landscapes outside, warm and welcoming hospitality inside.
9. It’s not the end of the story – my mid-life crisis may be over, but not my interest in therapies or writing about life.
10. The next book will pick up the story, post mid-life crisis and will cover what this period of life means – losing parents, expecting freedom, the importance of friendships and contemplating retirement and what the world will be like over the next 10-20 years.