Therapy with the Hampshire Hypnotherapy & Counselling Centre - One client’s amazing journey with us
Like many people, I left university with an idea in my head that I already knew what I was going to do for the rest of my life. My plan in short was to enter an industry as a manager and work my way up ‘til I became a director of an organisation. However, when I actually started working in the industry, I knew something wasn’t right. At first, I thought this was just my lack of experience that made me feel this way, but as time went on, that feeling never went away. If anything, it kept on growing.
Two years into my work career, I had my first ever panic attack, which was initiated by a heated argument at work. To begin with, I thought it was just signs of anger, with my heart racing and the shortness of breath from the shouting. It then became apparent that this wasn’t the case when the nausea and shaking began, and all I wanted to do was get away from everyone. I found a low fence a fair distance from that place to calm down. I then experienced a sensation that I never knew existed that I still really can’t put words to, but the best description I can give was that it was an overwhelming sense of doom that spread across my entire body. When that had passed, I knew I had to do something, as I couldn’t continue this path with my current mind set.
After researching for a while, I came across Hampshire Hypnotherapy and Counselling Centre, and started reading some reviews and testimonials past clients had given them. They all seemed rather positive, so I thought that I would give them a go and booked a few sessions for the treatment. As time grew closer to the first session I noticed that my anxiety levels started to spike, which was due to the realisation that I would have to talk about my emotions and feelings which I hadn’t really done before. I was so worried about talking that I came up with the idea of using an old large whiteboard to write down all of my thoughts and feelings in a spider diagram, which I would take a photo of on my phone and then pass it to the therapist in the first session (pre covid).
I arrived at my first session about 15 minutes early which meant I had to wait in the lobby, allowing myself time to go over everything in my head. This caused my anxiety levels to skyrocket, as I find that if I’m busy doing something I can zone out but when I stop and do nothing those thoughts and emotions come flooding back in. When I finally met my therapist - Linnet - she introduced herself, but I was already in mild distress. Looking back on it, she had identified this straight away and made me feel at ease with her warm and caring nature. Whilst reinforcing the idea that this space is safe and free from judgement, she made sure that I shouldn’t feel embarrassed.
When we arrived at her office, we chatted for a while until she asked the reason for me coming in. With an overwhelming feeling of nausea, I handed over my phone, trying to not shake whilst doing so. She took some time to read through the notes and during this I was sat thinking that she was not going to like me as I viewed myself as weak. We then started to go through some of these points and expanded on them, but she never dismissed any of my feelings and always gave the impression that she was listening and that she cared. To be honest, I don’t remember what words were exactly said in these early sessions, but I know the feeling I had after them was one of relief, as if a weight was being lifted off my shoulders.
With a course of treatment in Hypnotherapy and counselling, I started to manage my anxieties and I learnt how I could reduce my stress when it would arise. However, I was still in denial about where these feelings originated from. I kept telling my therapist that I just needed to “man up” and that with more experience in the industry, it would help reduce these negative feelings. But with more time in this trade, I realised the triggers I had weren’t going away, if anything, I was developing more. So after going to therapy for over a year, I came to the conclusion that I had a job role that was right for me.
Over the next few months, I explored what in life made me happy, and tried to find a profession that would match my new requirements. Luckily for me, I was able to find a new career that fit this and now I’m currently in the process of retraining. I would’ve never imagined my life would take this direction, as my past self would’ve viewed this as not being good enough to do the job, so therefore a failure. I now know that just because something isn’t for you doesn’t mean you’re a failure, it just means you have the opportunity to try something else.
Over the past few years, I believe that I’ve become better at accepting who I am as a person, by focusing more on my strengths rather than my weaknesses. This wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for my therapist Linnet, who helped guide me through my thoughts and feelings every step of the way. I would recommend to everyone to give hypnotherapy and counselling a try, especially men, as the more we normalise talking about our feelings and emotions, the more likely it is that men in need will reach out.
The overall reason that I wrote this testimonial about my journey was because it was recounts from other individuals like this that gave me the courage to give therapy a go. Without them, I may have never stepped through the front door. If this can help people make the decision to go to therapy then that would be a great thing.
