Adam’s story

“When I first met with Claire, I was worried that I had broken my wife’s heart for good, that I had broken up our family. I was concerned that I was just stuck in a cycle of behaviour that I did not understand and couldn’t control. I didn’t know how I could possibly afford to keep my family at home and find somewhere for myself to live.

I hated myself; I felt unworthy, inferior, ashamed. These feelings had existed for as long as I could remember – well before my actions precipitated the issue.

Claire quickly recognised how I tend to process and sense circumstances and events. She helped me to step back and visualise my feelings and attitudes and identify those traits which were dragging me down. She helped me to see that I did not have to feel this way about myself – in a very practical way.

I had a few “a-ha moments” during our work together. Firstly, Claire helped me to see that my desires were separate from the means I had chosen to carry them out. Secondly, ‘stop, breathe, think, act’ made a huge difference to the way in which I communicated with my wife and kids, and really stopped me from making a difficult situation a lot worse. Claire helped me to realise that I am ‘legitimate’; this has had a deep effect on my sense of wellbeing. Finally, she made it clear that I always have a choice in how I react.

My self-esteem now is better. The way I interact with my wife and children has improved; I value them far more than I did when I first contacted Claire.

Claire is adept at figuring out how people process (certainly this person). She is friendly, amiable, but rigorous in her approach to getting at the issue. She helped me to think and reflect, and come to the answers myself, rather than telling me ‘this is how it is’.

I would definitely recommend Claire. I very quickly felt comfortable with her, able to bare my soul without any fear of judgement. Because I felt that I could be brutally honest with her, I knew that any subsequent suggestions were based on moving forward rather than keep looking back.

Thanks again; you have made a huge difference to my well being and my relationship with my loved ones, whatever the future may hold.”