The idea for Freyja Cat Cafe came from a deep depressive episode. 

​

I have always struggled with deep depression, and during a particularly rough episode, I was working at a hospital in the IT department. I had reached a point in my episode where my normal coping tools were not working, and I started talking to the medical staff to get advice. I learned that it was not uncommon for front-line staff to struggle with their mental health and that oftentimes there was not an outlet for them. 

​

The advice I often heard was to do something fun to break the mental spiral. "Fun" is a hard concept when everything feels bleak and you barely have the energy to get out of bed. I tried to think of low-cost, low-effort things I could do that were still different enough to break me out of my mental spiral. 

​

One afternoon, I thought maybe watching baby animals play would help. It was different and low effort. I knew that there was a lot of research into how human-animal interactions helped with mental health. I went to my local pet rescue with no intention of adopting. At that point, I already had 2 senior dogs and 1 senior cat, and I'd recently had my oldest cat cross the rainbow bridge. 

​

I walked in and went to the first adoption room, which was full of kittens. One of them was very vocal; some of them were playing with each other, and others were entertaining themselves. Watching them be silly, never knowing what they would do next, helped me feel better. It reminded my brain to find joy and whimsy in the little things because to a kitten, even a piece of crinkled trash is a toy. 

​

Needless to say, I ended up adopting two kittens and later thinking to myself about all the conversations I had and how so many of the front-line team members would shrug their shoulders when asked, "How do you deal with your mental health?"

​

I was determined to find a way to provide an answer for them. Not everyone can own a pet, but that doesn't change the incredible healing effect basic interactions with animals provide. 

​

Freyja Cat Cafe will provide a space where people stuck in the spiral of their day-to-day can break away and rediscover joy in the smallest things again.