Katie Evans was a teenage punk who has since become a psychotherapist, using some of the lessons she learned on the scene to help others struggling with their mental health.
As a teenager, she endured bullying, anxiety and depression, with her anguish at feeling like a “misfit”.
In riot grrrl – a 1990s underground feminist punk genre and movement that gave us bands like Hole and Bikini Kill – she found music that resonated with her.
Sally Wainwright also took inspiration from the movement. In Riot Women, it is Violet, a song by Courtney Love’s band Hole, that Kitty (played by Rosalie Craig) sings at karaoke when she has hit rock bottom.
“The quality of Courtney Love’s voice is extraordinary,” Wainwright says. “The lyrics are so spare, so explicit and so emotionally articulate.”
“Riot grrrl told me you can be angry as a woman,” Evans says. “It helped me realise I was angry, and the music helped me process that.”
Her experiences in the punk movement has informed her work as a psychotherapist. “A big part of therapy is around acceptance of the self.
“We need to see our feelings reflected back to us to get a sense of ourselves, to feel like we’re not alone.”