"We found the experience transformative and validating"

I have thought quite hard about whether to write this or not due to the personal nature of the service but I wanted to make more people aware of this service and not be worried about accessing it.

I was referred to the relationship and sexual health service by my GP over a year ago after multiple gynae surgeries and a diagnosis of a long term condition that was affecting me physically and mentally. At my first appointment I met Alice and we talked about why I had been referred and what I would like to achieve. Alice warned me it would be work and to think about if this is something I wanted to tackle, and also asked if my partner would come along to the sessions with me.

My partner then attended all the subsequent sessions. There was plenty of tears, some laughter and a lot of hard work. We had homework from every session!

What we thought were our initial goals shifted over the 12 sessions, and it was exactly what we didn’t know we needed. We both felt so comfortable with Alice and were never made to feel silly or ashamed. In fact is was quite the opposite. It felt like Alice really saw us both and we found the experience transformative, validating, and it has allowed us to off cast of some heavy weights we didn’t know we were carrying. We attribute this to Alice’s skill -they were warm, friendly and extremely professional.

I thought 12 sessions, one every two weeks gave us enough time to digest each session before the next one. It was a good length of time over all as it ends up being several months’ worth of therapy. I feel like I would have liked more sessions but really I know we didn’t need them. Alice had prepared us to move on.

At the final session we were given yet more homework, and Alice helped us figure out how to continue the work we had been doing. We went on holiday not long after our sessions finished and used the time to read the books Alice recommended. It gave us the time and the space to discuss them outside of our usual routine, and have conversations in a way we would never have been able to before this journey. I am very grateful for all the support we received from Alice and this very special service.