The Journey in The Press

'The remedy is within ourselves'

Seasonal Adjustment Disorder (SAD)

When it’s that time of year, the nights get longer, the days shorter and the sun sometimes doesn’t make it through the layer of gloom for days at a time. There are dark shadows in the street, but the darkest shadows can be those in our minds.
 
“Seasonal depression is something we’ve all heard about,” says Sue. “It can creep up on us, obscuring all the positive things until gradually we sink helpless into a muddy hole. At such times we look around for reasons; lack of money, problems in relationships, stress at work. They all take their toll and all contribute.”
 
But the remedy can be simple because most of the problems and answers are within ourselves, Sue Franklin says. She’s a Journey Practitioner; someone who facilitates healing by helping people explore their own problems, clear their minds of issues which can lead to the depression, and leave them ready and able to handle the difficulties of life.
 
Sue has been a Journey therapist for over ten years and she’s helped many people with winter blues as well as those who suffer similar symptoms including severe depression at other times of the year. Journey therapy is a simple and quick process from which anyone can benefit.
 
Miss D, with a challenging job in social work had already referred several of her clients for Journey therapy so she knew how effective it was. She never imagined that one day she would be booking an appointment with Sue for herself. Further education deadlines, family difficulties and relationship problems had piled upon her and she just could not see any light at the end of the tunnel...
 
“I guess everyone around me felt I could deal with these issues as I was a strong person. They were so wrong. There were days when I could not get out of bed; when everything in my life was negative rather than positive. I felt stuck in a deep dark hole.”
 
“If someone had told me that the Journey can work straight away I would not have believed them,” says Miss D. “Well it did for me; it changed my life instantly. The experience was amazing. Since that day I have become stronger and stronger. I have regained my positive outlook on life and my confidence has returned.”
 
Asked why Journey therapy works where other therapies may fail, Sue says,”I believe that it’s because it’s not always necessary for the client to talk about their thoughts in detail, which is especially important if they have upsetting or distressing memories. They don’t necessarily have to say the words. Just using thought is quite sufficient.
 
  “People are genuinely amazed how, with just one session, they can start to live positive, happy lives again. Some come to see me just once. Others find the experience so beneficial that they want to return and explore new areas of their lives. 

Each Journey appointment is different; everybody’s experience of the Journey is different, but the benefits are universal and are often described as huge sense of relief, calm and happiness."
 

Sponsored by West Herts College
 

At the Dacorum Excellence Awards in October 2010 Journey-Therapy were awarded Community Business of the Year 2010.
 

Thank you so much to colleagues, friends, family and clients for your kindness, support and encouragement.
 

Sponsored by NatWest. We would like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement. 
 

The article, published on www.hemelhempsteadtoday.co.uk is as follows: 
 
A businesswoman who has helped many victims of the Buncefield disaster cope with the traumatic emotional after-effects, has won the New Business of the Year category. 
 
Suzanne Franklin - Business Impact Suzanne Franklin turned to alternative therapies to cope with the stress she suffered after her former husband became the victim of a vicious attack in 1997. She was so impressed with The Journey - a therapy that unlocks emotional problems by giving clients something else to focus on - that she set up her own business called Business Impact.
 
Suzanne said: “It changed me and changed my life within 48 hours. I was so impressed by the immediate and remarkable changes in me that I decided to undertake the intense training to become an accredited Journey practitioner.” 
 
She started her company in February 2002 working with individual clients with health problems varying from stress to cancer. As soon as the Buncefield oil depot explosions happened Suzanne sprung into action setting up group therapy sessions at the Holiday Inn hotel to help people cope. 
 
She held free monthly sessions at Bennetts End and Woodhall Farm Community Centre for people dealing with post traumatic stress. Suzanne said: “The people I worked with only needed to see once so it is very fast and very effective.”

Since setting up the business from her home in Polehanger Lane, Hemel Hempstead, she has treated more than 1,000 clients. She said of the award: “I feel very honoured and delighted.” 

Alice Eaton for Limited Edition Magazine

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Whatever walk of life you come from, the chances are you will know someone who suffers from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

A staggering one third of all adults in the UK will be affected by IBS at some time in their lives and yet it is something that leaves doctors baffled.
 
So far, there is no clear cause or cure for the condition. Many IBS sufferers have only very mild symptoms that can be controlled by changes in their lifestyle and diet. For some, however, it is a condition that can leave them feeling desperate.
 
Four years ago, Sarah* (who lives in Winchmore Hill, Bucks) began suffering from stomach aches, diarrhoea, constipation and feelings of bloatedness. At the time she admits to leading a fairly stressful life, working full-time and looking after three teenage children. A visit to the doctor revealed the cause of the symptoms was her body producing excess stomach acid, resulting in IBS.
 
"I constantly had a taste of bile in my mouth which made everything taste awful so I began to lose weight," explains Sarah.
 
"I began taking tablets prescribed by my doctor to stop the acid being produced but that didn't help and so I started to cut out certain foods, such as dairy products, tea and red wine to see if that would help, but nothing was working."
 
After several years of suffering, Sarah's quality of life had hit rock bottom and she had almost resigned herself to living with the symptoms. However, in June 2004, a friend recommended she pay a visit to Suzanne Franklin, a stress therapist and Journey Practitioner based in Hemel Hempstead, who had successfully treated one of her friends.
 
"I was pretty sceptical at first but I thought: What have I got to lose?' If you have tried everything else and you think there might be something out there that can help, of course it is worth trying."
 
Journey Therapy is a healing process which taps into past memories that can be causing emotional and, sometimes physical, symptoms. Sarah describes the whole process as similar to hypnosis except that there is two-way conversation throughout the appointment. During the session, the client is guided to concentrate on various images in their conscious mind which allows their subconscious to recall an old memory that is creating an emotional blockage. In Sarah's case, this was manifesting itself in the form of IBS.
 
"While most people know when they have experienced a trauma, for example, a car accident, often a seemingly more trivial situation, such as being bullied, can also be traumatic and cause an emotional shutdown that creates blockages throughout the system," explains Suzanne, who gave up her job in sales management four years ago to train as a Journey Practitioner having experienced for herself the remarkable results of the Journey process.
 
"The stored emotions can often remain unnoticed for years before coming to the surface. By accessing the old memory and releasing these raw emotions, the blockage clears and the symptoms disappear."
 
Although at first suspicious, it is a concept that Sarah was able to take on board.
 
"I know that emotions cause physical factors, for example, if you have a terrible day you can get a migraine, or if you are embarrassed you go bright red which is a physical presentation of an emotional state, so it seems logical that the brain has the capacity to create physical symptoms."

Sarah's session lasted around five hours and, although she felt no different for a couple of weeks afterwards, she slowly began to notice that her symptoms were alleviating.
 
"I must admit I did come out wondering if I had been conned," says Sarah.
 
"Suzanne called me two weeks after the session to see how I was feeling and explained that problems with the stomach can often take a little longer to heal but, after two weeks, I was still unconvinced."
 
However, without realising it, around six weeks after the treatment, Sarah suddenly started feeling better...
 
"One day I forgot to take the pill the doctor had given me as I wasn't having the symptoms to remind me, and then I was able to make a cup of tea and drink it rather than throwing it away as I couldn't face it. Pretty soon I was eating and drinking what I wanted. Before, if I had one cappuccino, I would feel ill, now I can have four and feel no effect. I couldn't be more pleased."
 
And sometimes the results can be even more dramatic. Almost a year ago, Sarah's 15-year-old daughter Emma* contracted glandular fever that had left her off school for seven weeks. Having experienced such a positive result from her treatment, Sarah decided to send Emma to Suzanne to see if she could help with her symptoms.
 
"The glandular fever left Emma feeling incredibly tired," explains Sarah.
 
Sarah's parent: "She never really recovered and I would often have to pick her up half-way through school as she couldn't make it through the day.
 
She was sleeping around 20 hours a day which wasn't like her at all, and often just washing her hair in the morning before school left her so exhausted she just had to climb back into bed".
 
Sarah dropped Emma off for her session with Suzanne at noon and at 2.30pmwhen she arrived to pick her up, Emma was a transformed person.
 
"She looked immediately better and even said when she got into the car: Mum, I could go for a run right now.' "She felt completely different and, since then, she has never come home from school early. It is simply incredible."
 
*names have been changed 
 

You can read the article at www.lemagazine.co.uk 

Feb 2012 MK PULSE magazine link - see page 18 
 

http://www.mkpulse.co.uk/images/Feb12.pdf