Allie Gledhill - Author and Survivor

Allie Gledhill is a chiropractor, world traveller and owner of four legged friend, Pluto. Allie recently swapped Glasgow for her native Australia to embark on the next chapter of her life. Her first book, An Angel In The Corner, tells the tale of her road to healing after enduring violent sexual abuse as a teenager.  Allie hopes that by sharing her story of overcoming the hurt and pain to lead a happy, fulfilled life that she will support and inspire others to move forward. Allie is an incredible person and a true survivor. Let me introduce you....

Growing up in Perth, Western Australia, I dreamed of being a professional musician, someone who spent all day playing uplifting music with a group of good friends. These days I still love to play the piano and I kind of like that I don’t play for a job. I play because I love it.

My first job was in a fast food restaurant when I was fifteen or sixteen years old, serving greasy chips & chicken. I made some great friends there, people who would become friends for life and would later encourage me with my writing work and my coming out as an abuse survivor.

Other people think that I am a happy and easygoing person, with a tendency to get a bit overly excited every now again, especially over good food and/or pretty silk scarves.

The best advice I ever got was to write a book! My partner wouldn't stop nagging me until my book was written and published. It was very confronting for me to go back and re-live the most difficult years of my life, but the writing process helped me to put it all behind me and to free myself from the memories that were haunting and controlling me.

My favourite saying is ‘love your life and it will love you right back’!

Change is often an opportunity in disguise, and the more confronting the change feels, the more likely it is that we need to embrace that change. I strongly resisted going public with my story for years and years, but the desire to write my book kept niggling at me until I finally started taking small steps towards reaching my goal. The change felt overwhelming at first but it ended up feeling great.

I’d be lost without the support and love of my family and my friends.

The achievement I am most proud of is writing my story and coming out as an abuse survivor. I thought I would take my horrible secret to the grave and that no one would ever know what happened to me, other than myself and my abuser. I didn’t realise how immensely cathartic the writing process would be and how many messages of love and support that I would receive once I found the courage to share my story.

My biggest challenge has been to come to terms with my past. It had taken many hours of counselling and personal work but I have finally achieved my goal.

My ambition for the future is to use my writing to give a voice to those people who are, for whatever reason, unable to share their own stories. For many years I was frightened into silence by an adult to had power over me and made me feel like I didn't have a voice of my own. Having a voice and an outlet for communication and creativity are valuable gifts that I don’t want to waste.

If I could be someone else for the day I would be P!NK. I think it would be marvellous to wear those fabulous costumes and to fly about on a trapeze.

In the public eye I believe that Angelina Jolie is a great role model for women because she uses her personal power to draw attention to humanitarian affairs. I admire people who have a vision and a cause that is greater than themselves and I believe that she is one of those people.

Got a question or a comment for Allie? You can occasionally find her on twitter @_allie_g and her book is available here.

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