COUNSELLING

“In life we all have our ups and downs. I decided in my life I would never need counselling as I could cope with anything. One day I realised I wasn’t coping, life was getting on top of me. Thankfully the IKA have a free counselling service, I decided to take the plunge.

That is when I reached out to the IKA for counselling, and what a difference it has made, I was listened to without judgement. My counsellor explained to me about coping skills, my old coping mechanisms where no longer working and looked at ways to try change them to be able to move forward.

Counselling has thought me to put words to my emotions and feelings and not to bottle everything up. The relief I felt being able to open up to someone who shows compassion and understanding.

Counselling has given me a voice again, and now with a stronger voice I’m not afraid to ask doctors and nurses questions about my health. With a stronger voice I have learned that it’s ok to say ” NO” ( who knew).

Counselling has helped alleviate my anxiety and depression, reminded me that support is there, you just have to ask. She has helped me live a more balanced life, less sleepless nights, to have more confidence in myself, to feel free to be me again.

Now I would recommend counselling to everyone, you don’t have to be suffering from anxiety or depression. It’s good to talk, now I see it as part of a more balanced lifestyle. I will be forever grateful to the counselling service at the IKA, counselling has given me new hope for the future. A new zest for life.”

“A few years ago I received my first kidney transplant. Receiving a new organ comes with so many positives I wouldn’t have even believed it if I didn’t go through it myself. Before my transplant I thought once I got a new kidney I would be fine as a kidney was something I needed and wanted for a very long time, therefore, the whole experience would be all positive. So it was completely unexpected when I started to have overwhelming feelings of sadness and guilt and even some pressure to get back to “normal”.

I didn’t like the way I was feeling so looked on the IKA website just to see if they had any information that may help. I saw they had a counselling service and after a month of thinking about it I decided to make an appointment with one of the counsellors. I felt a bit nervous for the first appointment but my counsellor was so lovely and relaxed. She made me feel at ease straight away. She assured me it would be confidential and gave me the option to change counsellors if I didn’t feel comfortable. I went every week for an hour and talked, in a relaxed atmosphere, through how I was feeling and what I wanted to change. My counsellor helped me to understand how I felt and where the feelings were coming from. Going to counselling helped me to recognise, understand and cope with my own feelings and gave me resources to support myself to work through how I was feeling.

Although it’s hard to make the first step by making an appointment, I can honestly say it was one of the best decisions I have made. Doctors, nurses, surgeons and of course donors help make you healthy and well but the counselling service at the Irish Kidney Association helped me feel like me again.”