Anonymous

“One of best things I did was say yes to counselling. I came to Amanda following on from my cancer, at this point I was very fortunate and had been advised I was clear of the cancer, however the you that you were before the cancer and the you that is left behind after the cancer were poles apart in so many ways, my confidence, my stamina, your looks and humour it all changes. I felt like a crumpled up useless bit of rubbish thrown to the side of the road, I was technically mended, but what a mess I was in, in reality, and bit by bit I am slowly unravelling all the creases in that useless bit of rubbish. I might be a slightly different shape, colour, or size but I'm still in there, and its okay to be a little lost, and vulnerable, it was so traumatic (something I didn’t acknowledge until Amanda talked me through it), it was so full on during treatment, you just blindly went from one appointment to another and then suddenly you were better and off you go! I didn’t know what to do with myself.

Amanda helped so much, I don't know exactly what she did, how she did it, or even exactly when, but she did it so cleverly that she got me to think a lot more about how I was looking at things, she taught me how to give myself a moment and look a little deeper to understand myself more and sort of validate myself (it’s all okay, good days bad days everything) also to give me some ways to help myself when I have doubts with thoughts, there is no normal, there is no next step there are just steps some bigger than others but they all lead to more steps. It’s okay to have less confident days, it’s okay to be sad it’s okay to be anything really. I described myself as sort of 50% when I met her, and I believe that slowly I have moved forward and I am now on 75%. I still have so much more to do with my wellness, however I believe my mental wellbeing is in such a much better state, and that in itself will help me with the remaining issues I have with my actual health, more operations etc.

I had never had any sort of counselling before and would of thought it wasn't for me if I was asked prior to my cancer, but I WOULD say I believe it would benefit so many more people, it has helped me with my outlook, and then onto my confidence and I know how to protect my wellbeing moving forward now as well.

It is also done in sort of bite size chunks so you feel safe showing more of yourself to Amanda, she takes you gently through so many things, she gave me the confidence to tackle more issues with family that I had been shelving as it felt too hard, and when I started to talk to my family it was so very easy no big deal and yet it was something that was troubling me, now I would talk about more things more quickly with family not mull on them.

I'm not too sure if anything above makes sense, however if it does then I'm pleased. Everyone needs help and Amanda was there for me and helped so much move it forward”