Scott's story

As a small business owner and young father, the pandemic brought tremendous pressure for me. I expected too much of myself and became overwhelmed - it made me ill. caba provided counselling, and I now have a better understanding who I am and what I need. I am more resilient and take much better care of myself as a result. 

How caba helped me

Lockdown was one of the darkest periods of my life. The government were asking accountants to do a lot more than manage people’s tax returns, and clients were experiencing huge stress, which in turn they put onto us. I had staff working from home, and I was under so much pressure I didn’t have oversight to see if they were achieving what they needed to, I just didn’t have capacity to support them.

I have always breezed through education and done well in business. Then suddenly there was over a year where I felt sick - or was actually sick - everyday. I had so many stress hormones racing through my body, it just became normal to be in crisis. I responded by ignoring what was going on, which meant things got worse and ultimately we lost half our clients.

Two of my friends died due to suicide during lockdown. Things got very frightening. I ended up sobbing on my kitchen floor. It was then that I called caba. They saw that I needed help fast and got me access to a counsellor very quickly. With support I realised that I did in fact have the capacity to look after myself. My self awareness increased and I worked on my mental-fitness.

My life now

It’s been a journey – but life is good again. Business isn’t quite where I need it to be yet, but I am optimistic and the family are in great shape – it’s a happy home again. I do the things I know keep me resilient – for me it’s meditation, fitness and cold showers. And being much more aware and open about how I feel and what I need.

My advice

If you need support, consider contacting caba. For me, calling them was like a mental-health-999, but you don’t need to wait until things are at crisis. It could have been a lot easier for me if I had got support earlier. Things started getting better for me from the very first day I called them.