June Finlayson, creative and counsellor, being there for people in times of need

Born in Kelty, June came to Kirkcaldy at 22 years old as a young mum with two kids.

Heading back to higher education when they hit their teens to pursue a diploma. June said: “Struggling in life makes you resourceful and realise you can do other things, I had to learn this.”

As an art tutor with Fife College, she also worked with young mums at The Cottage Family Centre and Fair Isle Primary School on art and crafts. June’s passion for all thing creative offered a new ethos.

“I was teaching self-esteem as a byproduct, the girls wanted to go to college, but they didn’t have the confidence so the class it gave them a sense of themselves for the first time and started to explore their own abilities,” she said.

June supplemented her income with dressmaking, exhibitions, astrology classes and private commissions. A counsellor to trade, June has spent a lifetime helping survivors of sexual abuse through one to one therapy sessions and groupwork with Open Secret in Dunfermline, counselling agencies in Falkirk and Alloa, and a spell in private practice, offering a therapeutic haven in which to talk of the unimaginable, heal, find themselves and forge a life beyond trauma.

June gets emotional as she describes interacting with others.

“Counselling has a life span, creativity gave me some balance. My whole life is about people, art and counselling is really me developing so I can help others. It’s always a dual exchange,” speaking with pride of seeing young people under her stewardship, “go out into the world and explore for themselves.”

When asked what she would suggest to local shy creatives she advised, “join a class, everyone is in the same boat, it means they don’t have to struggle own your own, you can have a beginning, and a promise.”

During lockdown where her art exhibitions were delayed, June’s entrepreneurial spirit came to the fore using donated tiles from Ceramic Tile Warehouse in Kirkcaldy to create acrylic pours of all sizes and shapes. Now retired, her art exhibitions at Linton Lane Community Centre and Dunnikier Park Golf Club raised nearly £800 for Nourish Support Centre.

Since 2023, Rejects Kirkcaldy has offered a space for an ongoing sell-out exhibition of the tiles and jewellery continuing donations and even today when we met for a cuppa, she has handed in another 50 pieces.

June smiles with pleasure at helping others in retirement, “I’ve always had a drive in me to help others, I’ve helped to guide a lot of people but it’s not about me, it’s about someone being there and giving them space,”.

And as for me I got it wrong. It wasn’t words I was seeking, it was an emotion; one of immense gratitude and love for being a champion of sexual abuse survivors, a charity fundraiser, an encourager of the unconfident, a champion of strangers, a permission slip for a project and a hooray for a smile. June Finlayson, thank you simply, for being you.

> The series, Kirkcaldy Guardians, appears in the Fife Free Press and celebrates people who make a difference in our community. To be featured, or nominate someone, please email [email protected]