What happens when a single moment changes everything — your body, your identity, your future?

In this moving episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate speaks with Ryiah Beesley-Gibson — a mental health practitioner, trauma survivor, and now a passionate peer supporter.

Just weeks before starting a new job in crisis mental health care, Ryiah sustained a catastrophic hip injury while travelling in Bali - setting off a long, painful recovery and a complete reimagining of her life.

Now training as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist and volunteering with Day One Trauma Support, Ryiah shares her honest reflections on recovery, anger, meaning-making, and how peer support offered a vital turning point when everything else felt lost.

We discuss:

• Navigating a traumatic injury far from home

• The emotional and physical cost of delayed recovery

• Identity, activity, and what happens when you lose both

• Turning pain into purpose through peer support.

• The intersection between clinical care and lived experience

• Why peer support isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s essential

Whether you’re in the early stages of recovery, supporting someone through trauma, or working in healthcare — Ryiah’s story is a powerful reminder of what’s possible when we meet each other as equals.

Show notes & resources:

With-you: with-you.co.uk

Day One Trauma: https://www.dayonetrauma.org/