Life Coaching and Counselling Testimonials

Coaching testimonial. Male 30s

During my life I had experienced a variety of problems. From early childhood through to adult life certain events occurred which were so horrific I chose to hide them somewhere in the back of my mind. The result was I became a very angry young man. By my early twenties this anger had developed into physical violence which I took part in at football matches whilst supporting my local team. As it was ‘only’ football violence, only ever against like minded people, (no innocents were directly affected), I subconsciously justified this as a release of tension from what I knew to be a stressful life at work and at home, but without realising, also due to the pain and horror I had experienced, particularly in my childhood.

The catalyst for this behaviour was incarceration at her majesty’s pleasure.

Upon release I embarked on a career which has now led to immense success. Even so, years later I found myself still an angry individual. Angry with society, and life in general. Eventually this led to depression, something which was scorned on, by my family, who incidentally have a strong military background.

Ultimately, having been in a wonderful relationship with possibly the best girlfriend in the world! I found myself becoming more depressed and giving her all of my problems. The result was one awful evening whilst drunk and upset I was very aggressive towards her, to the effect that she forced me to get help. Indeed I knew it was time to face my demons.

Conventional therapy; the doctor’s, Prozac etc. serves it’s purpose. However, in my mind, we have a duty to at least attempt to fight what is effectively a mental/ psychological condition on our own as a human; without drugs. Group therapy makes your problem public knowledge; great if you’re an alcoholic and have no shame in humiliating yourself in front of strangers! One to one psychiatrist involvement creates an environment where all you do is discuss the problem, but not necessarily solve it. Having experienced the above, (with the exception of drugs!!), you wonder what else there might be to save you, from in my case, serious suicidal thoughts and tendencies.

Enter, a friend of a friend’s…

Deborah Kerslake was recommended as a miracle worker.

Sceptical at first (as always), I decided to find out.

It’s hard to put into words what we do, as I believe every individual receives treatment relative to their needs.

It has to be stressed however, that this is a team effort. If you don’t believe in her treatment, or won’t ‘let yourself go,’ benefit you shall not. Only together can problems be defeated.

In my case we talked a lot at first. Practical advice, including homework was administered. Simple brain exercises designed to restore confidence and a halt to self loathing and anger: the root of depression.

This alone was not enough, so we had to delve into the dark past, exorcising the ghosts of yesteryear; the root of the problem. This was done under a very light semi conscious hypnosis with sleep inducing music and a really calm atmosphere. In effect it was meditation with a difference. Deborah encouraged me to use my imagination and liken my painful past to imaginary scenarios.

Although at first this made me upset, if I hadn’t reopened these ‘wounds,’ I never would have been able to finally bury the awful past and move on.

During this period of my life the support I felt from Deborah was immense and I never felt alone, even when I was.

Amazing really! I never thought I could stop being so angry and generally pissed off! But I did and I have!

It’s rescued my relationship, made me calmer, helped in dealing with a stressful career and generally made me feel a better person.

We all go through pain in life, some more than others. The weak ones suffer in silence or refuse to accept they have a problem (like I did), the genuine tough ones face there problems with determination and ask for help. That help is not always the best, so what happens then?

Deborah is a life saver. She really cares, understands and wants to make a difference. I am indebted to her for life.

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Nearly two months after treatment with her began, I can genuinely say I feel different and at last free of anger and that awful bitterness that so readily accompanies it. Thanks Deborah, I will never forget.

I first met Deborah through attending her meditation classes and found these to be both relaxing and motivating. This led to me having 1-2-1 coaching sessions with Deborah regarding work issues. For a number of years I had been temping in my line of work but experienced anxiety with the start of each new temporary job. I had also lost my enthusiasm in general regarding my career and felt unsure about the way forward.

In the first coaching session, using hypnosis, Deborah helped me trace the root of my anxiety and overcome it. As a result, my self-confidence and motivation increased considerably and my enthusiasm for my work returned. During the course of the coaching sessions Deborah guided me to set clear goals regarding my future career, to identify the steps needed to achieve these goals, and to put these into action. Thanks to this, I now feel very positive and motivated about the direction I am going in and, as a bonus, my increased levels of confidence and enthusiasm are having positive effects in my personal life as well.

Deborah has supported and motivated me 100% during the sessions and I would highly recommend her to anyone who is considering coaching.

Thanks so much, Jane (female, early 40s)

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Hello, I am an 18-year-old student and I realised that I had a big problem with telling the truth and it was getting me into all types of problems. It was suggested that I should go and talk to someone to try and overcome this problem. I went to talk to Deborah and within the first session we managed to get to the bottom of why I don’t tell the truth and she suggested several ways in which I could stop myself lying and most importantly to correct myself as soon as I realised I was not telling the truth. Deborah also explained that me not telling the truth was linked to my confidence, as I would not tell the truth so people would think better of me. Deborah had an excellent solution to this called ‘power words’ that increased my self-confidence greatly so that I do not feel the need to lie to look good. During our 3 sessions she also helped me in other ways to create my own boundaries and values of what I strongly believe in and this in tern made me feel more confidence as I know my limits and therefore know what I want out of life and have a clear idea of how to go for it.

Thanks, male 18.

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Hello Deborah

I had my interview last week. It was a very hot day and I started to feel a bit faint just before the interview. I started a to react in a self-critical way to this, telling myself that I was weak and bound to mess things up, and I would have become quite panicky had I not remembered what you said about choosing how to think. I decided to stop the negative spiral before it got out of control and chose to sit down for a moment and think of some of the happy and positive things I had thought about during the anchoring exercise. I started to feel a lot stronger and more enthusiastic, which I think came across during the interview. It seemed to go well, though I don't know the result yet.

Regards female 30s

Just to update my previous email - it worked well because I was accepted. Thank you for that.

Warm Regards Trudy

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March 2001. I have suffered from anxiety on and off for 3 ½ years, but 18 months ago it became so severe I had to give up my well paying, responsible job. I was having regular panic attacks, couldn’t be left on my own and couldn’t go out. I became depressed, irritable, was on edge all of the time and felt completely useless. I tried meditation, counselling and cognitive therapy but nothing worked. After one session of hypnotherapy with Deborah, I felt positive, had more energy and my mood swings stopped completely. Now, just 3 sessions later, I am gaining confidence, go shopping, socialise and can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. I’m beginning to feel like the old me. I would definitely recommend Deborah to anyone.

With gratitude female 20s

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I first met Deborah Kerslake when she ran a meditation course at my offices. I was so impressed that I contacted her later to discuss possible coaching for my 10 year old son, Daniel.

Daniel’s father and I are no longer together, and I have raised him on my own for most of his life. However, I have an extremely busy job, which often takes me overseas, and Daniel is at an Independent School which places high expectations on achievement.

Daniel is a very bright, but sensitive child, and finds it difficult to express his emotions well. Unfortunately, this suppression has let to him displaying inappropriate explosions of behaviour at school When I contacted Deborah, Daniel was under threat of expulsion, a situation which was causing me a great deal of stress.

Deborah worked with Daniel weekly over a 6 weeks, using a mixture of counselling/life coaching sessions and Cranio Sacral Therapy. As each week passed, I saw Daniel progress from a boy who made very little eye contact with strangers, to a more confident child who is able to express himself more and understands the consequences of his behaviour on others.

I would thoroughly recommend Deborah to anyone who’s child has behavioural problems. Indeed, as I believe behaviour is learnt over time and can take some time to be completely imbedded in a person’s makeup, it is my intention for Daniel to continue his sessions with Deborah.

Yours truly, Sharon Gilkes, Director, Europe IT, Harrow Middlesex UK

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In April 1999 I was diagnosed with Graves Disease. My weight had gone from 12 stone 10 down to 9 stone 6, despite a really good appetite, my hair was falling out, nails breaking and my skin itched so much I scratched until I bled.

I was constantly hot, even in winter and even though I felt exhausted I couldn't sleep. I was irritable and very snappy, often screaming one minute and sobbing the next. My heart rate was so fast I was given two months before I would have had a massive heart attack.

I began medication of 24 tablets daily and then was signed off work. I slept all day and night due to the amount of heart tablets and began a round of blood tests, ECGs and constant hospital visits. In two months of diagnosis my life was unrecognisable. One minute I was living life to the max. and the next it was living life at the doctors. Depression took hold and I just wanted my old life back. Then I found out that the thyroid problem had caused thyroid eye disease and it was quite a blow, I sank deeper into depression.

My husband and six children didn't have the wife or mother they had known, she was replaced with someone who couldn't care less, just existed day to day.

All this resulted in a stroke 10 months later and another battle to overcome but I'm afraid one I wasn't prepared to fight. With paralysis down my right hand side and speech problems and a major headache all of the time, I couldn't fight to regain control of my life, I'd totally given up, even handing in my notice which had been the one thing I'd worked towards - a return to work.

Two months later my eldest child was knocked down in a road accident and I saw it. A parent's worst nightmare and enough to relight my desire to be a real mum again.

Then I went to visit Deborah in Surrey and had a hypnosis session. I was relaxed and calm afterwards and had a general feeling of peace. I thought nothing more of it until I returned home.

Once back in my old environment, I began to realise what a victim I had become and decided to change my life around.

Each day made a difference. At first it was the achievement of driving to London when I wouldn't even drive locally before as the stroke had happened in the car.

Next I turned the idea of all the furniture I'd renovated as therapy into a profitable hobby by selling at local antique fairs, meeting people again and earning money made me feel useful.

Life has thrown a lot of problems at me since then, but I seem more capable of dealing with them, always carrying this inner sense of peace.

Disappointments are soon put aside and turned into achievements and when I need inspiration I sit somewhere quiet and close my eyes and imagine I'm in the hypnosis session and when I open them again I feel I could take on a raging bull. So much to do and can't wait for it to happen attitude.

Anyway, I put the fact that I'm feeling so well with my thyroid problem and that my husband has a better wife and more importantly my children have a better mum down to my hypnosis session, because before it I didn't care whether I woke in the morning.

Many thanks - Mandy (female 30s)

These are for anecdotal interest only and are offered without guarantee. I have the originals on my file