Adrienne Fong is a sad person.

As a young child, I was told to be quiet and stop telling people things, which lead me to learn to suppress my emotions. Sometimes the feelings would come out in a big way (I was a child after all). When that happened, I was yelled at or ignored. What did that teach me? Become better at suppressing. I started to pretend that everything was perfect and smiled through all the feelings I couldn’t show.

When I was 17, a peer thanked me for my smile and told me that when they were having a bad week, it would brighten their day. In that moment I told myself - no more hiding - because a few months back I had experienced the worst trauma of my life, yet here I was smiling through my first depressive experience. I made a promise that I would be honest to others about how I was feeling. I was going to feel it all. No more pretending, no more hiding.

It has been a long journey of doing just that and because of it, I believe in encouraging people to speak from a place of honesty about how they’re feeling without shame or judgement. If we can share more with each other, maybe we’d feel less alone. Through this we can hopefully find comfort, peace and healing. My passion for holding space for people grew from the absence of anyone being present for me.

I am a death doula trained by INELDA (International End-Of-Life Doula Association) with a focus on supporting not just those at the end of their life, but for all types of grief. I am also a reiki practitioner, offering energy healing to those that desire it . Lastly, I am a volunteer abortion doula who aims to offer emotional and practical support for people ending their pregnancy. The common thread in being able to do these things is holding space without judgement. The purpose of my life.

Cancer Rising, Virgo Sun, and Scorpio Moon - in case you were wondering :)