PTSD

“I was referred to Kirsten by my employer’s occupational health provider following my attendance at a major incident – I work within the emergency services. Following the incident I was experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. I guess at the time I didn’t really know what I was feeling other than that I wasn’t right. As time went by I felt less and less in control of my feelings and emotions to the point that I wondered if I’d ever feel “normal” again. It felt as though a dark cloud was hanging over me. I wasn’t sleeping well and had vivid traumatic dreams and sometimes woke up crying. I had a fear around me that something bad was going to happen to my family and even had what I can only describe as out of body experiences where I could visualise people around me dying. The anxiety around those experiences was terrifying. I felt scared, isolated and worried that I would never be able to do my job again.

I started seeing Kirsten, ready to do whatever it took to feel a sense of control again. Initially, all I wanted was to feel better. After the first few sessions I not only felt better I was confident that with Kirsten’s help I would recover and I would be able to get back to work. One of my symptoms was avoidance. I became very good at avoiding my feelings and emotions around the incident doing whatever I could to avoid thinking about the traumatic experiences I had. Kirsten was very good at making me face up to and accept these experiences and let them be part of me. I never looked forward to my sessions with Kirsten because there was nowhere to hide. Kirsten asked the difficult questions; told me the truths others avoided; put me back to the incident to allow me to express the emotions that I couldn’t when I was there.

I have no doubt that without the work Kirsten and I did together I would not have made the progress I’ve made. But my time spent with Kirsten was more than achieving recovery. It was about building resilience, learning skills to better face trauma in the future. Kirsten has given me the gift of inner awareness and emotional maturity. The ability to not only accept my emotional vulnerabilities but to embrace them and not be afraid to allow those close to me to see them”.

Anonymous

“I came to Kirsten for help in understanding and addressing some complex issues arising from my father’s death. I found that she took on board the issues quickly and through her skilful questioning, opened up new insights for me as I tracked back over several decades. Her observations stuck with me and enabled me to move to a more optimistic and positive frame with some clear intentions on what to do. It is work in progress but Kirsten provided very valuable and safe space to reflect and work issues”.