1986Our charming subject Rachel has a story to tell, one she has only told “about four people” so far. She contacted me to ask if she could use SOTM to spread the story of what has recently happened to her. So here it is.

”About five months ago I decided to go and see a counsellor,” she says in her audio clip “I thought that I didn’t really need to, that I wasn’t the sort of person who needed to go and see somebody for help. But things had happened last year that were quite difficult.

”It all happened at once. I don’t know whether it was the combination of good things and bad things happening all together, which almost seemed to throw me off balance. I got married but straight away after that I was really poorly and had to go into hospital for an operation. That combined with work pressures.

”It was one of those times in life when you have to say ‘I need to speak to somebody who isn’t my mum’. I went to see a counsellor who was absolutely brilliant. In one session he said it’s very important to see the joy in the little things, like a blackbird. Now, if I see a blackbird, it’s a little reminder of him and it helps me live a healthier life.”

Rachel has a website which you can see here. Taken in Brook Green, Hammersmith, London, UK.