[music]
my own experiences of finding myself in an addiction and entering into a residential rehab
for addiction and during the time that I was in there I was only in there for 28 days but
during that time we had group therapy and we could have access to the therapists as
well we could have a little bit of one-to-one counselling but during that experience it's
quite intense it's group therapy every day so like having process group all day every day
but just realizing that that I really didn't know myself that there was a lot in my life that had
happened that had led me to be there and there was a lot of things happening that I wasn't aware of
and becoming just you know in that that having a little bit of a light bulb moment that actually
you know it wasn't just me being there for 28 days was gonna actually sort me out I needed to carry
on with this I needed to carry on with therapy so I became a client of one of the therapist
there when I left I continued in private therapy myself as a client and they asked me back after
a year and to volunteer there as a mentor so I did that and I became really interested in the
whole process and what was going on I was there I was again in into into group therapy and into
process with with the clients of The Priory clinic at the time and I just became really
interested in not only my own process but what was going on in the group and what was happening
so I decided to train as a therapist so I started to look around at the different routes to becoming
a therapist how to become qualified and what was available close to home in Nottingham.
so I looked around for training for therapy training in in and around Nottingham
and I came across different various ways of becoming a qualified therapist and I came across
the Sherwood Institute SPTI so I enquired and went on an information day um but the minute that I
walked into the building at Sherwood into Park Row I'd been interviewed by other local universities
and but I had a completely different feeling of being in park row it just felt very comfortable
it felt very warm it felt very it felt very safe it felt very friendly I really liked
the people that spoke on the information day I remember being interviewed by Debs Mendham and
just her warmth and and being being with her felt
very safe so yeah I I decided to train at the SPTI I did the ABC counselling course first
and to see if I really wanted to be a therapist but that just ignited my passion to learn more
so I came onto the BSc and I had every tutor I had was different for each year but they were
all they were all really good in their own way they all had diverse backgrounds and different
types of training and I felt like I learned a real lot from the tutors that that I had
and I enjoyed my experience if if that's the word that I can use enjoy it so obviously you know it
it is life-changing and you know it was it was hard at times and you know but overall then you
know when I look back you know it's the one of the best things that I ever did and I'm really
glad that I trained at SPTI and I would come back and train and I have come back trading there I'm
doing the supervisors course so I have come back to train that so yeah so yeah I really enjoyed it.
so some of the challenges that I faced during today was returning as a mature student
never having studied at this level before so it wasn't academic never done really anything at that
academic level and I was also a single mum I had two young children and they were I think five and
three when I started so they were very young and so it felt like a big challenge to come and do a
degree lots of people told me that I was mad and I shouldn't be doing the degree I should be home
looking after my children which I did as well and I had very good support from my family and my mum
but it was difficult there were times when I felt that I really couldn't carry on there were times
when I doubted myself maybe I should have listened to those people that told me it would be too
much but the level of support that I got from The Institute and from the personal therapy that I was
in, from my peers, from the group that I trained with, from my tutors, from the program leader
you know from my family and friends as well obviously but everything just held me
and helped me to get through and I think it was
really important I learned how to ask for help and how to access support so
there were a lot of challenges but you know there was nothing there's nothing special about me in
terms of being able to do the course you know I wasn't particularly bright or smart or academic
but you know I had a passion to do it and when it got difficult I relied on that as well my passion
to actually become a therapist and get the support that was available to me and that got me through.
and then I guess it's not it's not an exaggeration to say it completely changed my life
you know it wasn't like doing a a maths degree and just learning something it was actually you
know very experiential and impacted me in ways that I I never expected to be impacted I knew
it would be tough and I knew I'd need to look at myself but you know I grew and I changed in
in very positive ways during my training and became more aware of myself more aware of my
process and and that had a great impact on my relationships around me as well at home with
my friends with my family and so it changed it changed my life in lots of ways um I guess a big
thing for me that I guess I've already I did already sort of touch on was benefiting from
actually being quite a loner before quite isolated somebody that just survived that just got on with
things that felt I had to do everything on my own and to actually asking for help and knowing
that help would be available and reaching out for support and becoming more sort of I guess
rather than too independent becoming more sort of interdependent so still having that Independence
but also knowing when I needed other people to help me along so that was a really big change for
me and something that you know I'm really grateful for I'm really glad that I have in my life today.
so I've run a successful private practice now since I qualified in 2017 and so I see
um clients privately I which I honestly really enjoy doing and it's it's been well it's been
like learning to drive I suppose it's like coming out and having the degree and then actually coming
out and putting it into practice I think there's been a lot more learning along the way and with
clients and my use of personal therapy supervision and regular CPD and professional development
development I've started to grow into that role as a therapist and become more competent in my work.
I think the advice would be you know that first of all you know it is challenging it
will make you uncomfortable it will change your life it will change your relationships
but you know it's absolutely worth it if you're passionate and you really want to become a
therapist you're passionate about doing it because the rewards are you know not only will you find a
new career but you will really actually discover yourself and it will improve your relationships
it will improve your life it will improve your well-being so and and benefit those around you
but don't underestimate the importance of actually you're not doing this on your own
don't underestimate the importance of you know good supervision and a good personal therapist
you know and and having that support and having that in place and actually really utilising that
support as well um not just turning up because you have to hit so many hours.
so my plans for the future are to continue with my private practice to keep working privately
with clients but I'm just in the process of doing my BACP accreditation at the moment as well so
I'm hoping to have that completed in the next few months and I've also just started the supervisors
diploma at the Sherwood and so because I would like to become a qualified supervisor so I'd like
to start working sort of next year with students and more with students and and doing supervision
as well so that's how I want to develop and grow and I'd also like to come and be a skills tutor
on the bachelor's um at Sherwood so they're things that I'm working towards now.
so I think in terms of self-care I've become very aware of the importance
of that in terms of looking after myself and you know it's been it's been trial and error
sometimes you know kind of learning how the right number of clients and
and the right the right balance in my life but I think in terms of looking after myself outside of
the work that I do then I do exercise I go to spin classes I go to yoga I'm booked on a yoga retreat
later this year and actually I've got a day retreat in March I forgot about that one which
I'm really looking forward to see um you know and spending time with my family and doing fun things
you know always looking for something to do or places to go so um I think my self-care is is is
tending to myself though it's not all bubble baths and and chocolates you know sometimes self-care
can be actually me being able to just sit and self-reflect and you know if I want to get angry
get angry if I want to cry cry you know to have my feelings sometimes self-care is a bit messy
but I'm open to to being messy sometimes and getting the support that I need with that too
and that's looking after myself because life is tough and can be challenging.
[Music]