Damien sought support from our service when he came across an advertisement on the Torpoint ferry. He shared that he wanted to take the steps to feel better. Having checked out reviews and established that we weren’t a scam, he took the plunge and reached out to our admin staff to begin his counselling journey. Damien was reassured by the admin staff; feeling as though we “got him” and adopted a user centered approach rather than attempting to sell our services to him.

Damien was experiencing a sense of isolation and a confusion regarding what was going on for him and why he was feeling the way he was feeling. Having a neutral person to validate his experience and reassure him that he wasn’t unusual whilst exploring what was going on for him was incredibly helpful to him. Being an analytical thinker generally, Damien described a technical approach called “The Rubber Duck Approach”. The principle behind this technique is that by verbalizing and simplifying problems out loud, solutions become more apparent.

When asked what Damien got from his experience, Damien shared that counselling offered him a space to identify patterns and behaviors and explore the reasons as to “why”. Having now decided that he’s reached a point where he has gone as far as he needs to for now, Damien has a deeper awareness of himself and has learnt to ask himself questions to determine what is going on for him.