Kate
Good morning, my name is Kate Fudge, and I’m honoured to be your lived experience speaker today.
If you had told 17-year-old me—that I’d be standing here today, I probably would’ve laughed… then cried… then asked if you had a spare couch I could crash on.
Back then, life wasn’t about dreaming big. It was about surviving.
I grew up in a home filled with pain. I experienced dysregulation early on and developed behaviors that, looking back, were desperate cries for help. Instead of support, I was met with discipline.
And when you live in a home where everyone is already struggling to regulate their emotions, your own struggles don’t just get overlooked—they get punished.
That cycle kept spinning until my parents couldn’t handle my behavior anymore, and I was kicked out at 17.
I ended up in the city, completely on my own. No degree. No direction No money and No safety net. I ended up getting a basic customer service job and just kept going: wake up, work, go home, repeat.
Therapy? That was a luxury I couldn’t even imagine. I didn’t have money for groceries—never mind expensive sessions to unpack years of trauma.
When things got overwhelming, and they often did, I turned to substances. It was how I coped.
In 2017, I made a decision that changed everything: I got clean. I committed to turning my life around—and I’ve stayed on that path ever since.
Eventually, I received a diagnosis: Complex PTSD. For the first time, I had language for what I was experiencing. It wasn’t just chaos and I wasn’t broken—I was injured. And—I could heal.
Through hard work and determination, I rose through the ranks at my job into senior leadership. And at age 31, I could finally afford therapy.
That’s when things really began to change. I started to do the real work: processing, healing, learning.
I joined a public speaking group and began to share my story. And That’s when someone said to me, “You need to volunteer with Sashbear.”
So I did—and it changed my entire life..
At first, I just volunteered to attend the walks. Over the past two years, I’ve travelled across the country to nine different walks making waves in support of Sashbear.
Meeting all of you on these walks gave me something I didn’t grow up with—a community. Not just kind faces, but people who truly see you, even when things feel messy or hard.
Then I took the Family Connections program. And let me tell you—life-changing is an understatement. I used the skills I learned to begin rebuilding my relationship with my family. Are we perfect? Definitely not. But now we’re imperfect together—and that’s what matters.
Most of all, I found hope.
Hope that by sharing these skills, I can help families build bridges instead of walls.
Hope that other kids won’t have to white-knuckle their way through life and fight their silent battles alone, like I did.
Because the truth is: healing shouldn’t be a luxury. And support shouldn’t be a privilege.
Thanks to Sashbear, and all of you, it isn’t anymore.