The following are comments made by recent clients at the end of their counselling. I hope you’ll find them helpful if you’re unsure of taking the next step of starting Counselling.
Client F
I cannot put into words how much you have helped me over the last year. Our sessions with your professionalism and knowledge, tenacity and compassion, and at times humour, have been life changing.
Client D:
But after all that I wanted to thank you again for in a way, breaking my “normal” patterns and making me think outside the box. Life isn’t black and white it’s multicoloured and when you can find humour it makes everything more beautiful. Thank you for helping me understand the new me and what I needed to find in myself.
Client K: Have taken myself for a walk up Xxxx Hill to reflect on the last 15 weeks. I really cannot thank you enough. I honestly couldn’t see a way out of the rut I was stuck in 6 months ago and you somehow found a way to help me out of it and to see life in a different light. I will never forget this little journey and I will forever be grateful to you .
Client J : Making the decision to start counselling was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I had experienced some very traumatic relationships and had recently lost someone who was extremely important to me and was struggling with my grief. I had spoken to various people over the years and shared some of my past so didn’t really understand how Counselling would make any difference (how wrong I was). My past had really started to take its toll on me and was starting to affect my physical health in suffering headaches and various other aches and pains. I knew I needed help but was scared about bringing my past back up and scared of the feelings it would bring back to the surface. I had spent too many years going through this and I didn’t want to waste time in my present life going through it again. I was very torn as the other part of me was angry that my past was still holding me back and having this power over me when all I wanted to do was concentrate on my life that I had worked so hard to achieve. Everything in my life was good but this was the final piece of the puzzle that I really had to put to bed in order to move on. I was also scared of who I would be after counselling as I had lived with my triggers and reactions for so long I did not know who I would be without these traits (as this was my normal).
After meeting Louise I felt that I had really made the right decision. I initially started my counselling having face to face sessions but after a couple of sessions Covid hit! Due to restrictions being implemented I decided to continue my counselling by Zoom meetings but initially had some reservations as to how that would feel. The good news is that it went really, really well and felt no different to being in the same room with Lou. I am not sure if the was the freedom to say exactly how I felt without judgement or interruption but Lou really made me feel safe and I could say whatever I needed to say.
Lou recommended EMI as part of my counselling and this was something I had not heard of before but in my bid to truly move on from my past I wanted to give it a go. Well what can I say…. I am not going to pretend it was easy but it really was an experience I am so grateful for. I went through a range of emotions but at the end I really, truly felt empowered and confident and no longer scared. I truly felt that I had exercised the ghosts of my past and even at the time I felt physically drained I also felt free and realised that I can move on with my life without the past holding me back.
Counselling has been the best decision I have ever made and has truly helped me. I realise that everyone needs help from time to time and I really did! It has really been life changing for me and great to talk to someone I felt really understood me and so easy to talk to. I am more confident and I am able to understand why I react to some situations and work on tackling things in a different way. I no longer feel angry (not that I realised I was at the time) and can recognise my achievements and give myself some credit (which was very hard to do as I always found giving myself a hard time easy)! My family and friends have also noticed the difference in me and say that I am so much more confident and that is amazing.
This is the best thing I have done and I always have the reassurance that someone is there if I need to talk in the future. Thank you Lou.
Client S: ” I went to LK Counselling having been through childhood trauma, which for many years I thought I was ok with, until it started to creep into other areas of my life affecting my relationships and life choices. For many years I would admit that I’d had a tough time but say, ‘I’m fine or I survived’, like it was a badge of honour which really was not the case. I saw Lou, who was warm, professional and gave me the safe space to admit that I was actually not ok and that was ok too. I was troubled with recurring nightmares and thoughts which would affect my day to day activities and I’d suffer with anxiety, depression and panic attacks. I undertook Psychotherapy and EMI and both have really enabled me to turn my life around. I am now happily married in a loving healthy relationship and with the EMI am no longer taunted by negative thoughts and memories. I was sceptical at first, thinking how would this ever work, but it really did. I further visited Lou again some years later having suffered a massive loss of confidence when riding my horse. I would fear the worst, crippled by negative thoughts about what bad things might happen, like my horse bolting off with me in open spaces, when in reality they seldom did but it was enough to limit my riding and prevent me from hacking her out which I really do love. Again, I went through EMI to remove the negative memories from a previous experience and I am pleased to say it worked. I can now hack a horse out in open spaces and went past a number of ‘scary things’ which usually would have resulted in me getting off and walking. I am more confidence and have the ability to rationalise, whereas before my fears would have been consuming, leaving me unable to think clearly or calm myself down. I cannot recommend Lou highly enough; she really did save my life.”
Others
” You have heard me, seen me and held me safe. I have felt what it’s like to be understood and not to have to hide myself away. I have no words to thank you for the profound life-changing work we have done together”
” You have been by my side either holding my hand tightly, sometimes loosely, or I have just known it to be there, unconditionally if I needed it”.
“It was the strength of our relationship that allowed me to let go- to fall apart and be vulnerable, before starting to build myself up again” .