"He changed mine and my family's life"

 As someone with a whole smorgasbord of aged anxieties I was completely almost sure that talking therapy would in no way help me, I had googled my symptoms, researched management techniques, downloaded apps and probably knew enough about anxiety to write a book, I was completely convinced that I knew all there was to know and without some mind-numbing medication I was a lost cause, however I had come to a point in my life where I was being controlled by avoidance, I had lost friends, I had changed my job, I was avoiding the GP and disappearing more and more as a person. 

 I self referred using the Let's talk website and was contacted quite quickly to book a telephone assessment, this was over the telephone and involved answering questions in regards to my feelings, the assessment was slightly uncomfortable and I did feel that the person on the other end of the phone was a bit cold, I was told I would be referred for CBT and that this would be a few months away, the telephone assessor said something to the effect of "but it sounds like you've lived with this all your life so another few months won't matter!" Ouch. It is also worth noting that if you suffer from anxieties regarding your children they will ask you about them and what school they go to, I'm assuming this is for safeguarding reasons, when I enquired about this I was only given a vague answer and I have to admit this caused me many a night googling "will my child be taken away if I'm sectioned", this really could have been remedied by the telephone assessor being honest about why they needed this information.

After waiting around three months I received a phonecall asking me to go to a far flung place for my appointments, I had explained in my initial assessment that there was only a few places nearby that I would be able to attend due to crippling fear of crowds and public transport and had to push a little bit to not have to go into the busy city centre to be seen, had I not been able to get somewhere appropriate I would not have attended. At this point I still didn't hold out much hope for treatment.

 Now this is where it gets good, I had my first appointment with Chris at Strelley health centre (if you have social anxiety I recommend this place, it's partially closed and very quiet) he was friendly, calm and actually hilarious, he made me feel at ease and looking back over those first sessions he really took the time to build my trust and make me feel at ease (without reassurance!)

 Eventually we moved to meeting at Bulwell Riverside which has a bustling café and plenty of big exits for me to run out of, each time I went it got easier, we spent sessions moving between my feelings, tools I could use to ease these, my past experiences, Chris' funny anecdotes and ted talks.

 Somehow over the period of twelve sessions I went from looking at my mirror a zillion times a day, googling every last freckle and avoiding any sort of discomfort to riding the tram alone, being assertive, making new friends, being honest with my family and colleagues and just generally being the "me I used to be". I went from my friends having to almost putting me physically on the bus to get to therapy to actually shedding a tear when it was all over, Chris has genuinely changed my life and I would now recommend talking therapy to anyone (if you can get past the initial tough bit).