'I was trying to deal with my mother’s deteriorating health and give her support which was hard as I live 300 miles away from my home town. I felt helpless in the face of her declining mental and physical condition and at what I perceived as a lack of support from both her GP and Social Services in her local area. I went through the whole range of guilt, anger, uselessness, bossiness (with mum, "them", and my wife) all of which were borne out of my frustration at the knowledge I couldn’t actually do anything about any of it…
From the start, Clare’s way of helping was different from an earlier programme of counselling I had undertaken through my work which only addressed the existing “here and now”. I was able to talk freely with Clare - conversationally - about a range of issues, thoughts, and aspirations, and addressing the inevitable that my mum would pass away one day. When that happened last summer Clare helped me understand that my emotions were not really that different from the way many other people felt at the loss of a sick parent.
Throughout our conversations I felt totally at ease and engaged - in contrast to my previous counselling - and that I was being listen to and understood instead of being in a programme which didn’t really understand me.
Looking back a few short months it’s hard to remember that I was in a place I didn’t want to be and I was a person I didn’t want to be.
I recommend Clare, in particular to men like me who may be sceptical that they will benefit from help to overcome personal and emotional struggles.'
