Even as a young child..I wanted to Help!
I have always, since I was a young child, felt the need to help others. I am practical person and can turn my hand to most things. I take after my Mum, who I miss every day. Her first comment upon hearing of anyone having issues, emotional, physical, whatever was; “What can I do to help? “ And help she would.
In primary school I spent many hours volunteering to help out in the special needs department and my career choices in later life reflected this drive to be useful. I joined the Police at 21 with the perhaps naive wish to help. I am sure that I did in many respects, but I suppose I always felt constrained by the bureaucracy that is the essence of any Public Sector establishment. I left after becoming a Sergeant and worked for 2 charities that supported people with learning disabilities.
The charities were equally frustrating and I never really understood why some people went into this field if they did not treat everyone as they would wish a member of their own family be cared for. I have an over developed sense of justice, in many respects, as a very harmful therapist once critiqued me for.
History Is Being Re-written
Anyway, along comes COVID-19 and out of nowhere, our history is being written as we live it, unprecedented and overwhelming in many respects. My instinct was, of course, ‘what can I do to help?’ I offered some free resources on line and offered some free counselling sessions to frontline staff, which fell on deaf ears as it happens. I saw my own private practice as a Coach and a therapist dwindle away, as people hunkered down in their respective bunkers.
Coach & Therapist
I have worked on line for a number of years as a Coach and a Therapist. I thought that this experience could help others make the transition from face to face therapy into the realm of virtual reality. I believed that online approaches were the way to go and they are. I did offer some advice to fellow counsellors nervous about this new landscape. I have started a virtual coffee morning every Thursday at 10am & am amazed at the following this has failed to whip up, ( 4 people at last count!), but I will carry on, as connecting is something I am good at and we all need connection now more than ever.
But I have discovered that the only useful thing I can really do at the present is to stay home! I can help by not helping! Due to my asthmatic status, I am considered to be a high risk group and therefore need to stay well to avoid getting ill and putting more strain on our already beleaguered NHS.
Stay Home!!
I am therefore sitting here, working and writing and realising that I can only really help the current situation by going against my nature and staying out of the way. It is hard to feel that my main contribution is to stay inside and let everyone else do their jobs.
And then, I thought I will be very useful after to help with the trauma created by COVID….but that is another blog
Photos:
Photo by Adam Nieścioruk on Unsplash
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
Photo by Mish Vizesi on Unsplash
