Some of you may have visited this website in the past few months and seen that I wasn’t taking on new clients. I didn’t want to share too much at the time but now things are settling down it feels ok to share more about what’s been going on.
I’d been feeling tired and physically not quite right since 2020, but put it down to ageing and lockdown changes. Unfortunately in May 2023 I had to go to A&E and after an emergency operation I was told I had Stage 3 cancer. It was a huge shock.
I spent the summer having treatment at the Northern Centre for Cancer Care and over that time met so many wonderful healthcare workers and patients, it’s been a really humbling experience. It struck me that I’ve experienced being there for a relatively short time but these professionals work with cancer day in day out and their ability for empathy as well as the sheer amount of information they deal with on an ongoing basis is astonishing.
It’s been an incredibly challenging time and I’m so lucky to have amazing family and friends around me. Having spent time so close to the reality of my mortality has changed me and I’m hoping to take the difficulties and use them to enjoy life more as well as be a better therapist.
The cancer treatment put me straight into surgical menopause, and I have been fortunate to find resources during my journey so far that I’ve put links to below, some local to me and others available to anyone. Do get in touch if you have any to add to the list and hopefully others will find it helpful too.
Armele P. MBACP(Accred) . Psychotherapeutic Counselling & EMDR Therapy 