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Transform
yourself
Karyn Gordon was a shy 13-year-old when a teacher told her distressing
news: She had a learning disability, and she would be lucky if she
graduated from high school. |
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 It
didn't help her self-esteem when her marks came in low, despite studying
hard. Getting 38 per cent for her first high school English exam, however,
became a turning point in her life.
"I will never forget this day. I'm sitting on this chair feeling completely
devastated, completely helpless, and I'm angry at this teacher who said
this. I'm angry at my parents. I'm angry at my friends. I'm angry at myself,"
says Gordon 15 years later, as she addresses the whole issue of self-esteem
before a crowd of a few hundred Toronto high school students in East York
Collegiate Institute. "All of a sudden, I realized I cannot control the
fact that I have a learning disability, but I can control how to respond
to this disability."
Gordon, 28, is a teen therapist with a private counselling practice in
Toronto and Newmarket, Ont. She has a bachelor's degree in psychology,
a master's degree in counselling and is currently working towards her
doctorate in marriage and family therapy.
Get involved
Gordon tells teens that her choice to change her negative attitude transformed
her self-esteem and her life.
"My personal greatest struggle was my own self-esteem but I started making
choices in terms of applying myself to my school and getting involved
more in my school," says Gordon.
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