Testimonial from Mike 01/04/2021 Counsellor – Louise O’Malley (Individual Counselling for Anxiety & Depression)

I undertook five sessions with Louise after experiencing what to me felt like quite severe anxiety. The anxiety led me to feel depressed and debilitated, and was triggered by unexpected changes in my employment circumstances. I found Louise’s support to be extremely helpful to me. Perhaps most importantly she was very easy to talk to, allowing me to explain all my feelings and thoughts. This was really helpful in terms of getting things off my chest. We then explored specific events throughout my life, and the feelings these had led to – some of which were useful in explaining some of the characteristics I have which trigger anxiety. We then explored my current situation in more detail to understand specific triggers to my anxiety. Of greatest value to me, we subsequently talked about useful tools to help me deal with certain triggers, thoughts and feelings. I have really used these over the last few weeks, and they have had a real positive effect in making me feel better. For example, looking at the bigger picture rather than catastrophising of one small situation, and also recognising that, in general, nothing that bad has ever happened to me in 20 years of doing my job – so its fairly unlikely that these worst case scenarios I keep anticipating are actually going to happen. Its also important to recognise that everyone has their own personality. As a result, there are certain things you will not be able to completely change, and in some cases you shouldn’t want to. Its more about recognising your strengths and managing challenging situations and thoughts – including by using the tools that Louise provided. I would really recommend Louise to people who are suffering from anxiety and related issues – I have a lot to thank her for.