Abby's Story: 25 Lancashire Minds

Abby’s Story

Finding calm after the chaos. How Supported Self-help helped me move forward.

Grief can be overwhelming – when it’s left unspoken or unsupported, it can begin to shape how we see the world around us.

For Abby, the loss of her Grandad became the moment she realised she needed support. Not just for the grief, but for the anxiety, overthinking and emotional exhaustion that followed.

*Content subject notice: Grief and anxiety. 

I turned to the Supported Self-help service because I felt stuck in a rut and recognised the way I was approaching situations, often catastrophising, and trying to work through my grief after the loss of my Grandad was impacting my day to day life and mental health.

Unfortunately, I’ve had previous experiences from counselling services that weren’t as good so I figured this would be the same, but it wasn’t. Nia, my Supported Self-help Practitioner massively helped. I had weekly phone calls with Nia and had my experiences listened to and always with an attempt or with an actual understanding of what was happening and what will help.

The support I received massively helped. I am aware of my feelings more and what they mean and when nervous I understand how to take that step to recognise and deal with it. I’ve learnt to deal with catastrophising and recognising it – and how to deal with grief. I have learnt to use the grounding techniques and further coping strategies through the resources Nia gave me.

The service really was amazing and so helpful. I really appreciated the time taken for me each week to help me. I had the chance to cover all aspects of what was affecting me, I never felt rushed or wrong and it was really a safe space for me that has given me the resources to carry on without the weekly check ins.

It was so easy to access the service and to anyone reading this thinking about getting in touch for support I would say, do it! It was the best thing for me and exactly what I needed.

If you have been affected by grief and would like support, please know that you are not alone.

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