So excited to be launching my business today!! So here is my first blog……..
I have thought long and hard about my first blog, should I be talking about a particular area I specialise in? Should I be talking about theory and why Counselling is so amazing? Should I talk about whats going on in the media today and how I would work with some of those people, or giving you advice helping your loved ones, but I decided those are all blogs to come. Today is about me and launching my business.
So why did I get into Counselling?
I had never had counselling when I decided to be a counsellor, but I lost a friend to heroin at the age of 22, I didn’t understand why she had tried this drug, why she got addicted and why she was so messed up emotionally and I felt useless. Around the same time, someone close to had committed suicide, again why did this happen? why do people commit suicide? I always cared about people, I knew I was a rescuer and loved helping people, so I went along to a course with Relate to see if it was for me. I absolutely loved it, so researched to find the best colleges around. The Iron Mill Institute (now known as The Iron Mill College) was the only BACP registered college in the South West at the time, it was more expensive but knew it was going to be the one for me. I chose so well, the training was incredible, starting firstly with the certificate and then moving on to the Advanced Diploma. It took me four years to qualify and cost me around £8k. As you are studying and attending lectures you also have to attend 40 hours of personal therapy, which was life changing in itself and you have to complete 150 hours of counselling in placements. I did nine months at The Big Issue working with homeless people and I worked a year at Teignmouth Community College with Students and parents, ranging from age 11 to adult.
So what happened next?
So I pretty much at this point with additional training specialised in working with adolescents, sexual abuse, self harm and addictions. However In 2009 I was in a severe car crash caused by a drink driver breaking my neck in four places and needing lots of surgery, I suffered with PTSD ([post traumatic stress disorder ) and needed therapy for a long time to get better, as well as years of medication and physio to cope with Pain Management. So as you can imagine, I learnt a lot about trauma and Pain Management, so became passionate about this field and went on to do training and loads of research into PTSD and Pain Management. Since March 2015 I started working at Torbay Hospital with the Pain Management team, something I find extremely rewarding. When I was working as an addiction counsellor, I had a client say to me, you don’t know what its like to be on Heroin and you know what he was right!! But working with Trauma and Pain Management, I do know what its like to be paralysed and being in so much pain that I couldn’t function day to day without Morphine and a cocktail of other drugs. I am lucky that I made an amazing recovery and learnt to manage my pain without the medication and that psychology plays a huge huge part with Pain Management. I am very excited about bringing this into my counselling practice. So passionate about working with people that have been through trauma and/or need help with Pain Management. I will be running Pain Management support groups in the local community soon, so watch this space.
What also happened in my world?
I became a mother to a beautiful boy in January 2016. This was the biggest transition and change ever in my life and alongside receiving this beautiful baby, also comes the emotions, anxiety and the huge world of change. I suffered hugely with Anxiety, which I didn’t know was part of Post Natal Depression. I was so scared something was going to happen to my baby, or I wasn’t doing the best job, with therapy this only lasted a few months. I have met so many incredible people and mums, including mums that have suffered with Post Natal Depression. This became something that I got very interested in and decided to go on courses and research further. Its now an area that I am extremely passionate about, as is still such a taboo subject for some. I have been volunteering with Action for children now for seven months and thoroughly enjoying this. I hope to set up a support group in the near future for new mums suffering with Post Natal Depression in the local community, as talking to others also going through it, or have been through it really helps. I have been able to bring this into my Counselling Practice along side Breast feeding support.
So what else has been happening?
Well alongside my counselling journey I worked for a huge corporate organisation within the Management Leadership team, so I learned a lot about business, marketing and coaching. I loved this job, but it wasn’t where my passion was and that passion was helping people and counselling! I was so lucky to be offered voluntary redundancy after working here for 17 years, this opportunity allowed me to leave and put money into setting up my own private practice. I was able to take my business knowledge and skills and apply them to setting up Calm Waters Counselling. So here I am today, looking out of my office window at my beautiful log cabin, getting excited and feeling lucky to be following my dream career.
Social Media following and my updates
You can also see daily quotes on my instagram page – https://www.instagram.com/calmwaterscounselling/
See my daily tweets and updates on my twitter page – https://twitter.com/Calmwatersuk
Follow me on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/calmwaterscounselling.co.uk/
or even look at my pinterest page – https://www.facebook.com/calmwaterscounselling.co.uk/
Every week I will be posting a new blog, giving more insight into what I know and what I do and why its so important to me.
Huge thank you for reading this, if you have made it all the way through 🙂 xxxx
So proud of you Serena, you have come a long way
Good luck with it all, I know you will be great!
Well done Serena – wish you all the best for your business venture, hopefully in the nicest way I will not need your services but will definitely recommend you to others. Good luck you will be awesome xxxx
Very impressive Serena and sensitively written. Good luck I’m sure you will be a brilliant counsellor.
You are a true inspiration my lovely.. and i now cant wait to read your blogs.
Huge congratulations. With vision like this, you will be an asset to those that need help and a lifesaver to many.
I really enjoyed reading that Serena. You’ve overcome so much and instead of wallowing in self pity and playing the victim, have used traumatic events to improve not only yourself but inspire you to help others too. Good luck with Calm Waters Counciling. I know it’ll be a success.
I stand in awe of you Serena, such an amazing & beautiful person, inside & out, with an incredible story to tell. And out of it a burning passion for everything that meets a person where they are, in the broken places, whatever their/our story & helping them/us to slowly turn the pages to a new & empowered story.