"Life changing support for my PTSD"

I developed PTSD after a serious car accident. I experienced flashbacks triggered by many every day things such as seeing wheels on my children’s scooters, seeing my son play with his toy cars, hearing loud noises or smashing sounds on tv, seeing black cars, to name a few. I felt hugely responsible for the accident as it wasn’t clear what had caused it. I felt like a terrible parent as my daughter was going to be in the car with me until the last minute when she chose to travel with a friend. The ‘what ifs’ taunted me constantly. I felt like I couldn’t be trusted. 8 months after the accident my GP suggested I contact Talk Together Bromley and I was then offered a space in a small group while I was on the waiting list. I had 4 sessions in the group about 5 months later.

The group surpassed all my expectations, the therapists were so down to earth and made me feel comfortable. The group sessions taught me why we develop PTSD which really helped me understand my problem and realise it was a normal reaction to trauma. I then received about 13 one to one sessions with one of the CBT therapists who had run the group. I had no idea then how life changing these sessions would be. I felt like no stone was left unturned. It was a challenging course of therapy but Claire was there every step of the way supporting me through reliving the trauma until it was properly processed. She used so many different strategies to help me work through each aspect of the PTSD all of which helped me in different ways. By then end of the therapy I felt entirely different to how I was at the start. I can talk about the accident now and face things that remind me of it. I feel like it’s not waiting to come back and bite me anymore because it’s all worked through. I don’t need to avoid things and I’ve even returned to driving as much as I used to. I will keep referring to all I learned and worked through in years to come and I am so grateful for this therapy.