Bedford NHS staff member who reached out to Keeping Well shares her “life-changing” experience

When an NHS staff member says she was close to resigning due to feeling overwhelmed at work, she reached out in time to the Keeping Well BLMK service. She shares the story:

“When I reached out to this service, I was at a point where I was going to resign from a senior role in the NHS as I couldn’t function. The only way I can explain it is that ‘nothing was going into my brain and nothing could be recalled out of it’. I was completely numb and felt totally paralysed both mentally and physically. I honestly thought there was no going back and had succumbed to the fact that I was on a scrap heap pile for good. 

“But my Keeping Well practitioner started working with me and has literally changed my life. At the start, she took time explaining to me why the brain reacted in the way it did and as I was struggling to take information in, she took time to re-explain until she was sure I understood. Knowing that she understood me and that the reaction I was experiencing was completely normal for the issues I had gone through and was going through was very reassuring.

“Over the weeks, she worked with me, I literally felt I was physically and mentally regaining myself little by little, week by week. At the beginning of each session, she always started from where I was there and then and she tailored each session to my specific needs and where I was that day. She knew exactly what I needed and I felt very safe in her more than capable hands. She taught me many tools and took time explaining them and then emailed them to me so I could re-read and follow them during the week in my own time.

“I have to say, my Keeping Well experience has been totally life changing. Thanks to the service’s expertise, tailored to my individual needs and issues, I am back at work, firing on all cylinders. They’ve taught me techniques and helped me to embed these into my everyday life to a point where I no longer need to revisit the text, instead, they come naturally as and when I need them. 

“The former patterns that didn’t serve me well have well and truly gone, and new, more healthy patterns and processes have been established. I literally feel re-born, better than I ever was. 

“I feel so grateful for being seen so quickly by this service and for everything the service has done to turn my life around.”

The Keeping Well BLMK service provide wellbeing and psychological support to key workers including NHS staff, staff providing care to others in the community and in residential homes and voluntary sector organisations in the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes (BLMK) area.