Olivia’s Case Study – Counselling
I heard about Racing Welfare from Katy our Welfare Officer coming into the yard. She used to come in once a month, I got to know Katy from her yard visits and I felt comfortable contacting her.
At the time I was running a yard and it was just all getting a bit too much. I started hurting myself but I thought I was doing it in a way no one could see. It was affecting everything, I wasn’t doing my job properly and it was affecting everyone around me as well.
I just thought enough is enough, I’m going to end up killing myself. So, in the end, I contacted Katy by text which was handy because I didn’t really want to talk and I could write everything down and not forget anything.
Katy listened to me and recognised I needed help. First of all, Racing Welfare arranged professional counselling, it didn’t take long to arrange, it was a two week wait at the most.
I feel like the counselling has sorted a lot of things out. I had EMDR, a type of therapy called eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing which helps to treat trauma. It has helped me deal with what I wanted to do next, it has helped me take the next steps.
I feel without the counselling, I don’t know if I would have coped as well as I have done. I feel it has really helped me as a person to behave how I wouldn’t have normally behaved, I just got so lost and depressed beforehand, before the counselling.
Katy also got me a gym membership and said it would make me feel better. I was able to go to the gym and go to counselling, I found the combination of the two really helped.
I had 24 sessions of EMDR counselling in total, all funded by Racing Welfare. Then a year ago, just before I changed jobs, I felt things had started to slip again so I contacted Katy who arranged more counselling and I have my last session this week. I had it once a week the first time around but I spread six sessions over four months the second time which worked quite well.
I’m excited for my last session and to see my counsellor, I don’t feel like I’m going to abandoned, I feel quite positive. I feel I know the signs to cry for help now and I would definitely ask for Racing Welfare for help if I ever needed it again.
If you are struggling with any issues surrounding mental health, do not hesitate to get in touch. You can call 0800 6300 443 and you can also find out more about counselling here.
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