EVERY day she takes calls from young people desperately in need of help – those battling depression, anxiety and low self-esteem or struggling with suicidal thoughts and feelings of hopelessness.
And Felicia Goosen (27), a qualified wellness counsellor, is in a good position to help them. She too faced a gamut of mental health issues as a teenager and knows only too well where her patients are coming from.
Felicia hasn’t had an easy life. She was born in a Thai jail and separated from her mom, former beauty queen Vanessa Goosen, when she was three years old. She was 16 when she saw her mother again and by the time she was 19 her life had unravelled. She was drinking heavily and filled with all-consuming hatred.
But today Felicia is in a far better place. She and Vanessa (49) have had to work hard to build their mother-daughter relationship but the two are now friends and live in the same town near Johannesburg.
She’s finally in a good place, Felicia says. “Every person has a choice in their life. You must choose to be happy.”
VANESSA was a semifinalist in the Miss South Africa pageant in 1992 and went on to run a successful clothing business in Cape Town with her boyfriend at the time.
In April 1994, when she was six weeks pregnant, Vanessa went to Thailand to buy clothing for the business. An acquaintance asked her to make contact with his brother there and to bring some technical textbooks back to SA.
Esta historia es de la edición 22 September 2022 de YOU South Africa.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición 22 September 2022 de YOU South Africa.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
HOW TO BE YOUR OWN THERAPIST
With more and more of us struggling with our mental health, here's a common-sense guide to coping with life's ups and downs
SPUD: THE MAGIC CONTINUES
John van de Ruit tells us why he decided to write a sequel - and shares how his first book helped him find enduring love
SEX CONTRACT GONE WRONG
A Cape Town couple have been charged with using a young woman as a sex slave-but some say she lost the job she signed up for and now has a grudge against them
LIAM LAID TO REST
More than a month after One Direction singer LIAM PAYNE (31) tragically fell to his death from a balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, his loved ones finally got to say their goodbyes.
SHILOH HANGS OUT
THE two young women look like any pair of good friends chatting and laughing as they leave their dance class in Los Angeles.
LEO IN LOVE
He's just turned 50 and it seems Leonardo DiCaprio may finally be ready to settle down
PACKING A PUNCH
Irish actor Paul Mescal beefed up for his role in the blockbuster epic Gladiator II - and fans are loving it
I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO BE A LOVE CHILD
As the illegitimate daughter of the king, she fought to be recognised as part of Belgium's royal family, but Princess Delphine says she still feels unwelcome
'I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES'
A bite from a spitting cobra 13 years ago nearly killed her but Mikayla survived - and she's made peace with her scars
THE CLAWS ARE OUT!
Things have grown frosty between the Beckhams and the Sussexes as Becks comes out in clear support of William
