By Zita Lau
Anna Amy Ho is a freelance aerialist, a crisis counsellor at
Victim Services Toronto, and a public speaker for child welfare advocacy. As our
keynote speaker for Vision Youth Gala in 2016, she shared how to develop hope,
resiliency, and courage by facing your fear and how she uses her “black box”. Here,
we extend her inspiring speech through an interview on her experiences, values,
and prospective plans.
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| Anna Amy Ho delivering her Keynote speech at the 2016 Vision Graduation Ceremony |
‘Being able to give back and
share something valuable’
Anna witnessed the ghastly deaths of her mother and grandmother on
the day of her Grade 8 graduation – a story she continues to share with her
audiences. It is never easy for anyone to share one’s own story, let alone
speak about a wound that leaves an ineradicable scar. “I started off very shy
and didn’t really feel like I wanted to share a lot,” Anna said, describing her
initial feelings about speaking in front of the public.
As she saw her story have positive impact on people, however, she became
encouraged to continue sharing. In particular, Anna relayed an exchange with her
old classmate, who experienced a traumatic incident the day after reading her
story. Like many, Anna’s classmate had always felt motivated just knowing pieces
of Anna’s story and seeing her outspoken personality in classrooms; but after
her own incident, knowing the full extent of Anna’s story gave her even more
strengths to push through her studies and not let that experience hold her back
from accomplishing her goals.
“There is a real sense of power – inspiration, hope, optimism – that
comes from my story.” Anna explained what she learned from the feedbacks of her
audiences. Through converting her negative experience to positive messages that
give people courage and motivation, Anna is accomplishing something she
believes we should all do – giving back to the community when we are able to.
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| Anna Amy Ho posed with the author of this article |
Our strengths from within
Traumatic experiences will never completely heal or disappear from
the lives of those who have been affected. Nonetheless, Anna believes everyone is
capable of becoming strong and powerful for oneself but people often underestimate
their inner ability to accomplish it.
Anna said: “Often times, we don't empower people enough to adopt
their own sense of resiliency and strength… I think for me, at a very young
age, I was able to realize that quickly – that no matter how much supports we
have in our life and how much other people around us want to help us, we have
to be willing to accept that help, and realize that our strength really comes
from within us first. We have to believe in ourselves and believe we can do it
in order to push through.”
She further explained that her mother, a tough, single mother who raised
Anna and her brother to the best of her abilities, had and continues to inspire
Anna to be the strong person she is today.
Being
a crisis counsellor
We often speak of empowering people in
crisis, but Anna understands everyone as the expert of their own lives and only they can realize the power within themselves to become the
person they want to be. In fact, this is what Anna does as a crisis counsellor – give
people the tools to discover their ways to cope with grief and sorrow adaptively.
Anna further described what she
had come to realize through working as a crisis counsellor by defining three terms:
sympathy, empathy, and compassion. Sympathy means feeling sorry for the person,
which is usually not what the clients need; empathy is feeling the person’s
pain – sounds ideal at first, but can be counterproductive when the clients
need assistance; and compassion is understanding the root causes of clients’ pain,
propelling one to take action and
advocate about it.
“Having compassion is the core of
what I do,” Anna added, “as much as academia can give you the right terminology
and the right words to articulate what you are trying to say and your messages,
your lived experience is much more valuable. That’s what gives you the wisdom
and knowledge to know how to actually navigate the experiences alongside
clients and victims.”
This not only is her work ethics,
but a skill that allowed her to push through her own difficulties and challenges growing up.
Looking
into the future
In addition to accepting some new
and exciting challenges at her new role with Victim Services starting in April,
Anna plans to pursue a Master’s Degree in Dance Movement Psychotherapy and Counselling in the near
future. Dancing provided Anna a safe haven to express her emotions and what
she could not express through words back in high school, and it remained a crucial tool of expression and source of strength ever since. Therefore, her goal is to create a hub where all those who
also believe in the potency of therapeutic
arts can gather.
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| Anna Amy Ho performing |
When asked about a final message she would like to share with the youths, she said: “Never give up – just never, never give up."
Be it difficulties, challenges,
or dreams, this motto is what she believes can motivate people to achieve their
objectives. Sometimes people will desperate you from what you believe in; but
the more you tell yourself you can succeed, the more you will try, and the more
likely you will get to the place you want to be.
We also look forward to the day
that Anna, a strong, inspiring young woman who never gives up, establishes her therapeutic
arts centre that brings more people to realize the strengths they have within
themselves.
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