A photo of Laura West, The founder of Serenity Now Foundations

Hi, I'm Laura West

Educator and founder of Serenity Now Foundations

I grew up with physical and emotional abuse and neglect. For a long time, I didn't understand how much that shaped the way I showed up with other people. I only knew that something kept going wrong, usually at the moments that mattered most.

So I did what a lot of us do. I read the self-help books. I saw therapists and counsellors. I tried old approaches and new ones, from modern psychology to Neurolinguistic Programming to the traditional healing practices of a respected shaman from a First Nations community in the rainforest on Canada's west coast. I went to school, practised positive affirmations, studied the social rules everyone else seemed to know, and worked hard at building an independent life. I was doing everything I could, and I was still suffering.

What I finally understood

What I didn't know was how thoroughly my brain had learned to protect me. I call it the Protection Connection™. Long after the danger was gone, my nervous system kept bringing back the terror, the fear, the anxiety, the shame and guilt, and the feeling of losing myself, just as if I were still that child.

Understanding that changed everything. It took me close to three decades of searching to learn why my brain kept hijacking me, and what actually helped it hijack me less, and helped me recover faster when it did.

Why I built this

I put everything I learned into the system I wish I'd had at the start. It's the program I needed when I didn't know where to begin, and it's built for anyone living with the effects of childhood abuse and neglect who wants to feel calmer, steadier and more like themselves.

I founded Serenity Now Foundations in 2016. It grew out of peer support: people who have lived through an invalidating childhood, helping each other find a way forward. That's still the heart of it. We've been there too.

What the program draws on

Foundations To Serenity is a two-phase program, Break The Protection Connection™ and ReCreate YOU!™. It’s built from what I learned over three decades of reading, listening and trying things for myself. That includes published research on how the brain and body respond to stress, like the ideas Bessel van der Kolk describes in The Body Keeps the Score, along with classical philosophy, the writing of Louise Hay, and the First Nations traditions I was lucky enough to learn from on Canada’s west coast. I’ve turned it into plain-language lessons and simple practices you can use in everyday life. It isn’t a version of any clinical therapy, and it isn’t delivered by a clinician.

My qualification is lived experience. I'm a survivor of childhood abuse and neglect, and I've spent most of my life learning what helps. I'm not a therapist, and this program isn't therapy. It's a structured, peer-led way to understand your patterns and practise new ones, at a pace that feels safe. Many people use it alongside professional support. If you’re working with a therapist or counsellor, keep going, and feel free to share what you’re learning here with them. If you’re in crisis right now, please reach out to a professional first, or call or text 988 in Canada and the US.

Where to start

If any of this sounds familiar, start with my free book, Why Am I the Way I Am? It explains where these patterns come from and why none of it means something is wrong with you.

~ Love, Laura

Get the Free Book

This isn't a read-it-once-and-done kind of thing. It takes some effort and focus to make the changes you want, and you're already putting in that effort. We're here to help you build skills you can keep using as you work on the behaviours, feelings and automatic reactions you want to change. We don't believe in being perfect, or that there's one perfect way, but we do believe in steady, smart work. This program is educational. It isn't therapy, medical care or a substitute for professional mental health treatment. We make no guarantees about your results or personal growth. Any results or examples of change mentioned on this site are not typical, and your results depend on your own effort, experience, resources and other factors. If you’re in crisis, call or text 988 (Canada and US) or your local emergency number.