Shielding
I am a shielding counsellor! Since 13th March 2020 I have been shielding at home with my family. During this time I have continued working in my private practise, Caroline Ellison Counselling and as a volunteer counsellor for the Fountain Centre at St Luke’s, Royal Surrey Hospital, meeting with clients each week over the telephone and online using Zoom. I have also completed professional development courses to keep me up to date with current issues such as:
- Supporting & Counselling People Bereaved during the Covid-19 Pandemic
- 80 hour Online and Telephone Counselling 2.0.
- Working with Bereavement and Complex Grief
Counselling Cabin
Perhaps the most exciting thing that has happened during lockdown is the completion of the purpose built counselling cabin. The cabin sits proudly and perfectly in my garden and where I am peacefully writing this blog from now. It is a tranquil, calm, inviting and beautiful place to be. I love it and when I start working face-to-face again I am certain my clients will love it too 🙂
Difference and Challenges
It has been a different time and the changes, which came into our lives so quickly, came with many new challenges and requirements we needed to meet. As a counsellor I listened to the frustrations, anxieties, worries, concerns and fears of clients, friends and family members and it was hard at times to contain it all and to manage my own thoughts. The isolation of being locked in hit my family and me at different times and I recognised it happening to others.
We have adapted in our unique ways and many of us have found ways to cope. One of my ways is mindfulness. I often disappear into the cabin and close my eyes for some internal rest and reflection. I also write thoughts down in one of my many journals that I expect I will read at some point in the future. I am in awe of the human spirit around me in my community and have been humbled by the enormous number of people who have pulled together to support one and other. It has bought me to tears at times, especially on Thursdays when we were all out clapping for our outstanding NHS workers.
Embrace the New Normal
I am a shielding counsellor and at time of writing this am still isolating at home. I have stopped counting the days and I have stopped feeling the difference of being only at my home, I now embrace every day with a new vigour and I love getting up early to start a new fresh day. Transitioning to working with clients online has been really successful and I intend to continue offering Online Counselling along side face-to-face. I believe the many changes which have been forced upon us due to the situation will bring about a new normal which in many ways will be a better, more positive one. It is the simple things we have taken for granted in our lives which we now appreciate so much more than before. I recognise how fortunate I am to have a wonderfully supportive family, a safe and quiet place to work and now a calmer mind-set as there is no rushing around to get to work, sitting in traffic in rush hour, grabbing an unhealthy snack for lunch or missing lunch all together. The simple things in life are here at home and those things that are not are delivered by the many fantastic companies who have also adapted.
The new normal fills me with optimism, hope and whilst I am still a shielding counsellor in isolation, I have never felt freer in life. This freedom and space in my mind also give me more space to be there for my clients who are benefitting from a calmer more Zen counsellor!
[I understand of course that there are too many who have lost loved ones during this period and I too am losing my dear mother to Vascular Dementia and have watched her cognitive function diminish further, I feel that however, is a different post.]
Written by Caroline at Caroline Ellison Counselling – these are my opinions. Carpe Diem.