After six months of various levels of COVID lockdown, I was slipping into a near permanent state of anxiety and my normal coping mechanisms were nowhere to be seen. I found Simone, and within a couple of weeks of contacting her, was lined up with a video call appointment. She somehow sifted through the garbled, disordered explanations I was making, and at the end of the very first session had a first suggestion of something very small and very manageable I could think about over the next seven days. And that’s how the next few weeks went: very small, very manageable ways of pausing to look and see what I was doing. She was so calm, so measured, and so capable of seeing through all the human chaos I brought to the call and help me to find order, understanding, and a way forward. Through practice during counselling and continuing into the future I have the tools to manage myself when faced with difficult situations. I feel like I’ve got the best version of me back.