I cannot thank the charity enough for this support, without which I fear I would not have been able to work or to rebuild a “normal life”.

How Reachout has been a support to me during lockdown - Sylvia*

Before Reachout

In the summer of 2019, I was suffering from anxiety due to long term PTSD (which I had not recognised), which surfaced due to a culmination of events in my life including the repeated critical illness of my mother and the deaths of 2 other close family members. I was becoming very anxious and was beginning to have panic attacks because of ongoing dysfunctional family situations including bullying & emotional abuse from family members.

How Reachout helps me

I have now been using the Reachout groups for a year and I am so pleased and grateful to receive the group session support.I am particularly grateful to Jill Granger for her brilliant group sessions and her dedication and hard work in supporting us all at the Paddock wood Group. 

The groups have helped me on so many different levels; firstly to come to terms with what has happened to me, which had been hard to process, to even acknowledge, or confront and then to reflect on. 

Secondly, it has helped me begin to reconstruct my life post trauma, which began in childhood and continued even to early 2020 when my mother died. Reachout has helped me process feelings about it, as well as the impact that my mother’s relationship with me had on my life and its influence on my relationships with other family members.

Finally, I have also realised gradually that I am not alone in this. I have become more aware (by observing other people’s issues in the group) of the reasons for my PTSD and that I can now safely try to begin to deal with it using mindfulness and other techniques. This has been extremely helpful for me and it has enabled me to begin to move on with my “new life”. 

Reachout during Covid19

My husband is unfortunately on the highly vulnerable list, and this pandemic has causeed us both new anxiety. However, The Zoom sessions have been brilliant and have really helped us all I think, in these strange times of Covid 19. Without the Zoom sessions I would have found the Covid 19 situation much harder to deal with. Jill and the group have been our rock in a very difficult time.

Reachout has made such a huge difference to me. I am very grateful for the support received. Thank you.

*not her real name.

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