New Case Study -Sarah -My journey with Wild Orange

I first reached out to Carole in September 2021.  Significant life changes, including perimenopause, a redundancy followed by starting a new, very demanding job .Then having to deal with a suddenly ill parent, swiftly followed by my partner’s shock redundancy, all in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic had led to a prolonged period of me feeling burnt out, unmotivated, exhausted and generally very, very low. 

Life seemed to be overwhelming me and I didn’t know how to help myself get out of the deep rut I felt I was in.  I had gotten to the stage where I had started to look around for potential sources of help and came across the Wild Orange website when looking for a more holistic approach.  The site, and particularly Carole’s biography, appealed to me greatly, I felt this was someone who fully understood what it was like to be in my position.  I contemplated contacting Carole for a couple of months without actually doing anything about it, but I remember finally sending Carole an email one particularly difficult Saturday morning saying I didn’t know if I needed counselling, coaching, or both!  As it turned out, Carole was able to offer me everything I needed, and much more.

We began with a face to face consultation to discuss what I felt my issues were and what I hoped and wanted to achieve from working with Wild Orange.  I found Carole professional, compassionate, friendly and knowledgeable and I felt instantly at ease with her.  She fully explained her ethos, ways of working and options for how we could work together (if I so chose) to help me make the changes to my life that I so desperately wanted to.   By mutual agreement, I chose to work with Carole on a one-to-one basis for a few weeks as I had a number of issues we felt worthy of closer attention and examination together. 

I remember leaving our initial consultation feeling hopeful for the first time in a long time.

Over the following few weeks, and months ,Carole helped me carefully unpick and examine my issues, prioritise them, and gave me many, many practical tips and tools for coping with day to day triggers. 

We moved at a pace I was comfortable with, and which I felt I was in control of, I never once felt pressured or hurried, and I always felt that we were making headway, and left each session with a new idea, insight or technique to try.  There were of course good weeks and bad for me, life is never straightforward! But I could tell that things were shifting slowly in a positive direction.  I think one of the biggest breakthroughs for me was realising with Carole’s help how much I had been living my life feeling that I was not good enough.  Once I had made the connection, so much started to fall into place and I could see the areas I really wanted to make changes in far more clearly.

I decided to compliment my one to one sessions with some of Carole’s “Self-care Saturday” sessions, dealing with specific topics, and then I attended a Wild Orange retreat break, where I met so many other like-minded people, was introduced to Qi Gong, and even managed some relaxing spa time.  I also did the six week meditation course, which was amazing.  Carole has such a wide range of “tools” at her disposal and I think I may have used all of them at some point!  After our initial period of one to one sessions to unpack my immediate concerns, there was a natural transition period where we moved on to focus less on problems and more on self-development, utilising yet another of Carole’s skills – life coaching.  I still continue to have sessions with Carole every couple of months as I find they help me to maintain my motivation and I find it’s a safe space for me to discuss any issues that arise, as life always throws us curve balls.  Carole is extremely flexible in approach and is fully able to tailor sessions to suit my current needs, whatever they may be at the time.  

I really value my sessions with Carole and now consider them a vital part of my ongoing self-care regime.  I wouldn’t want to be without Carole and Wild Orange in my life and I know I have become much more resilient and contented in my life as a result of having engaged with Carole, and I cannot thank her enough for all her help.  I fully intend to remain a client for a long time yet, through choice and not necessity, it is really not an understatement to say she has changed my life.