If the salary was the same – what job would you be doing right now and why?
If salary didn’t matter, I think my answer would depend on which of my two countries I was living in – Norway or Thailand.
But interestingly, the heart of the work would probably be exactly the same:
Helping people find their place, their value and a way forward.
If I stayed in Norway, I would want to work with young people who are struggling with mental health, exclusion and finding their place in society.
We have far too many young people who struggle so much that they don’t finish school, don’t manage to enter working life, or slowly find themselves standing outside communities where they desperately need to belong.
That is something I care deeply about.
I would want to work differently – not beginning with everything a young person cannot do, but with everything they can do.
What are they good at?
What makes them curious?
And what gives them confidence?
What kind of environment allows them to grow?
Because everyone has something to contribute.
Sometimes people simply need someone who takes enough time to discover what that something is.
I would love to work with self-worth, inclusion, creativity, practical skills and individual strengths – helping young people understand that their value isn’t determined by grades, diagnoses, productivity or whether they fit neatly into the system.
And if I were living in Thailand…
My dream would take a slightly different form.
As a foreigner, there are restrictions on the work I can personally perform in Thailand, so my role would be more about creating, supporting and developing opportunities together with local people.
For years, I have carried a dream of creating something I call a Freedom House.
Not an institution.
In many ways, this dream grows from the same values behind Liam’s Freedomfond, something we as a family were involved with both before and after losing our son Liam in 2016.
The idea has always been close to our hearts: creating opportunities, dignity and a sense of belonging for people who may not have been given the same chances as others.
Freedom House would be a smaller and more hands-on continuation of that spirit.
A place where education, work, creativity and community could exist under the same roof – not as charity in the traditional sense, but as a way of giving people the tools and opportunities to build their own future.
And perhaps that is why this dream has stayed with me for so long. It isn’t really a new dream at all.
It is an old family value finding a new form.
In a way, it would also allow something we once created together as a family to continue growing – carrying Liam’s name, our experiences and the values behind Freedomfond forward into something new.
A place to belong.
I imagine a house combining education, training, a small café and a second-hand shop – perhaps eventually workshops, creative spaces and other small projects as well.
A place where young people or adults who need another chance could come to learn practical skills, gain work experience, meet other people and gradually build confidence and independence.
Some might learn English.
Someone might discover that they are brilliant at cooking.
Another might repair furniture, sew, paint, grow vegetables, work in the café or learn how to run a small business.
And the second-hand shop could help support the project while also teaching skills and encouraging reuse rather than waste.
The goal wouldn’t simply be to help people.
It would be to create opportunities for people to help themselves and each other.
That’s an important difference to me.
Because whether I was doing this in Norway or Thailand, I think my job would ultimately have the same purpose:
To see the person before the problem.
To notice abilities before limitations.
And to create belonging instead of exclusion.
And to give people the tools, confidence and opportunities they need to build something of their own.
If salary were irrelevant, I think that is where I would spend my working life.
Not necessarily behind a particular desk or with a particular job title.
But somewhere I could look at another human being and say:
You have something to offer. Let’s find out what it is – and then let’s find somewhere you can use it.










































































































































































































































