From Struggling Reader To Psychotherapist: Ontonio Dawson’s Journey of Faith and Perseverance

At age 13, Ontonio Dawson watched as friends his age moved on to high school while he remained behind, carrying the disappointment of failing the secondar- school entrance examination.

For years, he struggled with reading. The combination of academic challenges and bullying due to his weight took a heavy toll on his confidence.

“This felt like the most embarrassing experience and for a long time I felt inferior and was affected by this,” he recalls during an interview with JIS News.

More than two decades later, that struggling boy from Carterwood in Southern Trelawny is a 36-year-old psychotherapist in the United Kingdom (UK), an author, tutor, guest lecturer, entrepreneur and mental-health advocate who now helps others navigate some of the difficulties he once experienced.

During an interview with JIS News, Mr. Dawson reflected on the remarkable journey that took him from struggling to reading to writing books of his own, and the faith, family and determination that helped him to change the course of his life.

Growing up in Trelawny during the 1990s brought happy memories of rural life, going to the river, fishing, hunting birds, playing outdoors and enjoying fruits and vegetables in season. However, alongside those memories were difficult days.

His parents were farmers and, according to Mr. Dawson, there were occasions when they struggled to find the money to send him to school. He was also bullied and called hurtful names because of his weight.

“It affected my mental health, to be honest,” he says, adding that academic struggles compounded the problem resulting in him failing the then Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT).

He had to remain at his all-age school while his peers moved on to secondary school, leaving him with feelings of shame and inadequacy.

Yet, what seemed like a devastating setback would eventually become the beginning of his transformation.

Once his family recognised the extent of his academic difficulties, his older siblings stepped in. His sister gave him a copy of Gifted Hands by Ben Carson.

“This book would eventually become the book that transformed my mindset and changed my outlook,” Mr. Dawson says.

“This was the first time I had a book in my hand that I was forcing and challenging myself to read,” he notes.

He struggled through unfamiliar words, breaking them into syllables and returning to the pages day after day. Gradually, the words became easier. By grade eight, he was reading at grade level.

“So, it took me one year to move from a very low reader to performing at the grade that I should be and after that, I kind of, you know, started seeing the worth in myself,” he says noting that change in self-belief proved pivotal.

He went on to serve as deputy head boy and head boy and later distinguished himself academically, crediting his family and teachers for helping to redirect his life.

His Christian faith, which began at age seven, was another constant.

“Faith has been a fundamental part of my life and my identity. In fact, I would call it the foundation,” Mr. Dawson says.

“It gave me hope when I couldn’t see a way out. It reminded me that my identity wasn’t defined by my limitations,” he adds.

As an adult, Mr. Dawson became a police officer in Jamaica before moving to the UK after marriage.

There, he secured a job within four days, working in a forensic mental-health unit and supporting men experiencing mental-health challenges. The experience introduced him to a career he had never imagined.

Already holding a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in management studies from Jamaica, Mr. Dawson pursued further training in the UK and eventually became a cognitive behavioural psychotherapist.

The irony of his educational journey is not lost on him. The child who once struggled to read now teaching others.

“Today, I have the privilege of teaching future therapists while continuing to learn myself,” he says.

Behind those achievements is a family Mr. Dawson regards as one of his greatest blessings.

He is happily married to Calesia and is the father of three children. His wife supported him through postgraduate studies, including periods when she was pregnant with their daughter and later their twins.

“I always say that we were studying together because she would go through every paper. The greatest achievement I have is building a family, having a beautiful family, wife, children and I’m so grateful for them,” he tells JIS News.

Mr. Dawson’s childhood experiences have also become an important part of the psychotherapist he is today.

“I know what it feels like to struggle. I know what it feels like to have doubt and to have adversity,” he says.

“I don’t simply believe people can change. I know they can because I’ve experienced transformation myself,” he points out.

Mr. Dawson’s own journey from a struggling 13-year-old who could barely see beyond his circumstances has become the heartbeat of his Seed for Success initiative, through which he seeks to inspire others facing difficult seasons of their own.

For him, the seed represents the potential that can remain hidden beneath hardship, disappointment and self-doubt, waiting for an opportunity to emerge.

“I believe every single person, regardless of who they are, where they’re from, are seeds for success, destined for greatness,” he says.

“No matter how long life buries you, you know, you can be in the dark for a long season, like a seed, but when the rain come, that seed is going to burst out the ground,” he expresses.

It is a message Mr. Dawson now carries beyond his therapy room through the international Seed for Success Conference, using the lessons of his own transformation to encourage others to believe that being buried by life’s circumstances does not mean they cannot rise.

Although his life is now established in the UK, Mr. Dawson remains fiercely proud of his Jamaican roots.

“I am first a proud Jamaican. I’ve not tried to change my accent or try to fit in with the British… way of speaking. I really try to maintain my Jamaican-ness,” he declares.

He carries that identity into his work, advocating for culturally adapted therapy and drawing, where appropriate, on Jamaican language, music, proverbs and other aspects of the culture.

“Everywhere I go, I take Jamaica with me. I carry Jamaica in my mind, body, soul and spirit,” he says.

Mr. Dawson also believes success carries a responsibility to help others rise.

“Success isn’t just about climbing the ladder and saying, yes, I’ve arrived. It’s about recognising that there are persons below you that you can help to pull up,” he says.

Today, having graduated from university three times, travelled to more than 20 countries, written books and spoken before audiences internationally, Mr. Dawson can look back at the 13-year-old boy who thought failure had determined his future.

“At the age of 13, the person who failed thought that life was going to end there, didn’t see a way out. Everything felt impossible then, but look at what God was able to do,” he reflects.

If he could speak to that boy, his message would be simple: “Don’t let your struggle convince you that you’re incapable. One day you’ll read books, one day you will write books… you will change the narrative of how persons see you. One day you will be the young man that persons will listen to and not the young man that persons will see as inferior,” he says.

It is the same message he now offers young Jamaicans who may believe that failure, poverty or their present circumstances have already determined their future.

He believes that everyone has the ability to rewrite their story.

“Never confuse your current situation with your final destination. Your environment may influence you but it does not have the final say on who you become,” he says.