Extended Client Testimonial

This is an unaltered testimonial written by one of my clients, a male in his 30s.

Background

I had a pretty difficult childhood dealing with divorcing parents and then sexual abuse from a step-parent. I lost my best mate when I was 17, went through some work-related stress in my 20s and my parent was diagnosed with terminal cancer and needed me to care for them in my early 30s.

I was very much “I’m fine, I just need to get through it’ through all of this and would have said I was a normal guy in their early 30s. The reality was that it was all catching up with me. I wasn’t happy, I wasn’t great to be around and I was increasingly suffering from a lack of sleep and anxiety. We had our first child on the way and I decided I had to do something as I didn’t want it to affect them and wanted to be there for my partner.

The search

Then came the search, which was difficult as there are many professionals offering services. There certainly isn’t a Tripadvisor for psychologists! I looked up some recommendations, but something didn’t click. I eventually found Jason and thought he looked approachable and, being another bloke, thought it may be easier to connect over what was going on.

This turned into one of the best decisions I’ve made.

The Experience

My first impression with Jason was very approachable, down to earth, trustworthy and practical. In our sessions he asks lots of questions, gets to the bottom of the issue, he knows when to challenge you, he shares some ideas on how to manage the issues and provides some ideas to take away and work on. I learnt that you have to really work on these things outside of the sessions to make a difference.

I have had some really tough times over the years. I could not have got through it without Jason. Now, Jason helps me keep on the ‘straight and narrow’ when things get on top of me.

What I have learnt

I’ve learnt you can’t get rid of anxiety, as much as you’d like to. That said, there are a lot of tools to help you identify the build-up and keep on top of it. You need to keep working at it, though. We can all read this stuff in books but where I found Jason great is he fits the tools to the situation perfectly. Now I am much more confident in managing my anxiety and I’ve been able to recognise it in others around me and even help them.

Written May, 2021