"Thank you for lifting me out of the mineshaft and into the sunshine"

I came to see Clare in Stafford about a year ago. I was referred after visiting my doctor because I was drinking heavily, feeling depressed and in what I can only describe as a dark, empty place as an empty shell of a person.

I had recently lost my father and through the emptiness and futile feelings I was having, my relationships with the people around me collapsed. I lost the closest people around me and my marriage didn’t survive. I was drinking heavily and uncontrollably, on a path of self-destruction.

Claire became a friendly face in a desperate world, she listened to me and allowed me to listen to myself. It was enlightening not to be judged and to have an empathetic ear, and someone with just the right questions to make me gradually re-focus my thoughts about myself and my situations.

She gave me pointers and support and I felt she was genuinely pleased to see my progress, yet was totally not judgemental when I had blips along the way. I seriously don’t know how I would have coped without her support.

I now feel alive, vibrant and happy again. Thank you for lifting me out of the mineshaft and into the sunshine x.