Megan and Viv's story
Megan was a single mum with two children, both on the autistic spectrum. Her daughter Viv was 15. Viv found attending school extremely challenging and was refusing to go to lessons. Due to high levels of anxiety, Viv also refused to access external services for support. Viv met with the counsellor at school, and as she was in a familiar setting, agreed to engage with the service. Within three weeks of accessing counselling Viv had started to return to her classes and had set goals for her attendance. By the end of counselling Viv spoke about feeling more confident, particularly with her friendship group.
Megan too, opted to access the counselling service. Whilst she had engaged with many professionals in her efforts to find support and understanding for her children, she had never been offered any support for herself. Counselling allowed her to reflect on her feelings about the challenges of family life as well as considering new strategies and skills in her relationship with her children. She described this as having ‘a ripple effect on all the family.