Pre therapy:
Post therapy:
When I began my transition, I knew that my voice was going to be one of my greatest hurdles and that somehow tackling that aspect would be critical.
While I was doing well as far as my physical appearance was concerned and was happy to go out in public I didn’t dare to speak as I knew that it would immediately out me. Initially I had tried hard to feminise it using various apps and whatever I could find online, but with very little progress to show for it I was afraid that I was going to end up having to have voice feminisation surgery.
Dreading the idea of surgery, knowing that it would be a long way off and worried about how much my voice was holding back my transition I decided to look into finding a professional voice therapist and came across Celia.
I started having weekly sessions with Celia and was amazed at how quickly I started seeing improvements. I had started with a very deep voice and was not at all optimistic about how much it could be improved. At best I was hoping for something barely passable that would at least make me sound androgynous, but through my sessions with Celia I came to realise that I could set my sights much higher and actually achieve a feminine voice that I was truly happy with.
Over the following months we continued to build on what I had learned so far, gradually adding new layers and more complexity as my new voice developed further and I was thrilled when we reached the point where I was confident enough to start speaking with my female voice in public. The sessions and many hours of practice required were certainly very hard work but with Celia’s guidance I always felt confident that I knew what I had to do and that I was on the right path.
Celia is a fantastic speech therapist who knows her craft extremely well and is very professional.
However, what really makes her stand out for me is that she truly cares about her clients and her doing the best for them. Celia is not someone who is just there to do a job and collect her fee, it is obvious that she genuinely cares about her clients and trans people in general, and more than anything just wants to help us succeed in our transitions.
Today I am living full time as a woman with a voice which passes flawlessly and sounds great without me even having to think about it anymore. I would certainly not be where I am now without Celia’s help and can easily say that she has been one of my strongest allies throughout my transition.