In the running for Miss Great Britain, Alicia Shah says she became homeless and went into a hostel at 17 because she didn’t know how to express herself in a healthy way. She said: “At 17, I thought it was the end.”
The 30-year-old, from Richmond, who was a runner-up for Miss London and is now Miss Hertfordshire said her homelessness and her mental health were linked.
Now a carer for her Mum, Alicia has always played the role of carer in her family as she grew up with a disabled brother and a single Mum. Alicia said the divorce of her parents in her early childhood years caused her to “lose her sense of self.”
Speaking to MyLondon, Alicia said: “At 17, I wasn’t coping with the responsibility of having a single Mum and having 2 other siblings who I had to help raise. I craved independence but I came from a complicated background. I didn’t have a safety net.”
This drive for independence led Alicia to a homeless shelter for teenagers. She said: “There was a huge calibre of people there from those with anklets and pregnant to those the police had brought in to stay there.”
She added: “I felt bad and let it spiral but I realised nobody is going to come and rescue me but myself; nobody is going to take me out of this. I’m not a victim, I found healing in painting and art therapy.”
Soon after, Alicia says she found pageantry. Whilst speaking to MyLondon, Alicia says she’s aware of how people can perceive pageantry as superficial but for her, it became a platform to share her experiences and the solace she’d found in art therapy.
She said: “I thought, here is a platform, and here I can make my voice heard and help others find their voices.” Before adding: “I thought it was the end at 17. Pageantry has been a way for me to tell people they are not alone.”
Alicia has run art therapy workshops for the past 10 years. She promoted her business through word of mouth and flyers she made when she started out. Alicia said during a workshop she asks people to draw a memory, then ask about the colour that have been used and the emotions they could represent. The art becomes a way for many to articulate themselves much like she was able to during her late-teen years.
Alicia shared a story about a non-verbal autistic boy she’d helped years ago who attended her workshop. She said: “I didn’t talk down to him, I just gave him a paintbrush and canvas. I spoke to him like a normal person, like he could understand. I told him what to do and asked questions and then let him get on with it.
“I kid you not at that moment he discovered his talent, his shading, and shaping were amazing. He ended up crying in the workshop. I gave him a way to express himself, I gave someone non-verbal a voice.”
Alicia said art therapy and discovering art helped her verbalise her feelings and pageantry has been a way to share the ease she’s found and now she wants to share that with others so they don’t feel alone.
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