Calmer Lives

What impact does Calmer Lives have on you and your life?

Calmer Lives has had such a huge impact and will continue to do so into our future. Its effects benefit not only me and my son (both of whom are neurodiverse) but also permeate through to positively impact our family life and also my work life, leading to a sense of increasing stability and hope now as opposed to utter despair and total overwhelm. I can now imagine a future. My emotional intelligence, communication skills and self-awareness has grown a lot with Jennifer's expansive empathy, understanding, knowledge and compassion.  The counselling sessions have undoubtedly reduced the impact of traumas and ultimately I feel this has saved my marriage, my family and my career as I now have powerful strategies and perspectives I can take to help us all be resilient through difficult times. 

If Calmer Lives didn't exist how would that impact you?

Jennifer has successfully coached and mentored me through some of the biggest traumas in my life.  I feel there is no comparable service or skill set out there, it is irreplaceable - elsewhere you get only 15% of the offer - so you may get an experienced mentor but they offer just a 6wk generic provision out of a book. Calmer Lives is so individualised and personalised it becomes the perfect therapeutic response. Without leaning on Jennifer's' strength I would not have fought back; without having her intelligence I would have felt unseen and unheard but also unworthy. She helped me find my courage, and she has helped me nurture what matters. She has helped me see through my anger and pain to recognise my core values and I now realise these matter. I have been able to lose some of my bitterness, regret and shame. I do absolutely dread to look back and imagine what would have happened without Calmer Lives; I think we were unwittingly close to catastrophe.  

Why did you choose Calmer Lives? 

We chose Calmer Lives just because of a free 6 session therapy through Early Help referral. We had had some success with therapy some years ago.  

What 3 words do you associate with Calmer Lives? 

Expertise,  Tailored,  Recovery 

What impact does Calmer Lives have on you and your life? 

With cancer, an ADHD diagnosis at 65-years of age, an unwanted ‘grey-divorce’ and concomitant need to find a new home in a new area, the counselling I receive through CEDA has managed to combat the - previously overwhelming - feeling that I might as well move to a retirement home and just wait to die. 

Why did you choose Calmer Lives? 

Trying to find properly trained, experienced and qualified therapists who can deal with clients with complex needs, including neurodivergence, was crucial to my decision.  There are no shortage of counsellors willing to take my money, few I have found that have the necessary range of competencies, outside Calmer Lives. 

What 3 words do you associate with Calmer Lives? 

Life-changing, Empathetic, Professional 

What impact does CEDA, Calmer Lives have on you and your role or organisation?

Calmer Lives allows families at an Early Help Level to access a Level 3 intervention to prevent their family escalating into Level 4 Children’s Social Care. DCC offer an in-house free parenting programme on Autism and ADHD called Autism and Us but often we find parents/carers struggle to take what they have learnt in this online training and put it successfully into practice in everyday life. Parents/Carers also may have specific areas of difficulty with their child that is not covered within the standard sessions offered by DCC’s Communication & Interaction Team and thus this is where the 1:1 support from Calmer Lives comes in. 

If CEDA, Calmer Lives didn't exist how would that impact you, your role, the organisation, the people around you?

At this stage, it would massively impact the lives of children and their parents in Devon (excluding Torbay and Plymouth) as currently the Family Hub Model is not yet in place and there is no Level 3 Targeted offer that supports families specifically with ASD/ADHD within DCC. 

Why do you choose to work with us?

I originally quality assured the service over five years ago when it was named BISnet. Conversations with Sam Harris at the time came out of myself and a colleague identifying a gap in service for families not open to Disabled Children’s Service or to Children’s Social Care but needed additional 1:1 support to assist with difficulties in their family life associated with a child with ASD/ADHD. 

What 3 words do you associate CEDA, Calmer Lives with?

Knowledgeable, Friendly, Supportive