IT WAS PAINFUL

Back in the 1990s, whilst still at university, I started experiencing bouts of vulval pain. By 1999, I wasn't able to sit, walk or move without being in agony. The pain spread and intensified. I tried to grin-and-bear-it but as I started fainting from the pain more and more, I had to stop working altogether.

IT WAS EMOTIONAL 

I felt a prisoner in my own home and the medication, far from helping, just left my head feeling foggy. So - as you can probably imagine - I used to move a lot between anger, frustration, shame, fear, low self-confidence and a multitude of emotions.

TIME TO EXPERIMENT

In a bid to regain control of my life - and with a nod from my doctor - I started methodically trying different approaches and therapies. I wasn’t to know at the time, that my quest to get better would take almost 10 years…

BREAKTHROUGH 2007

I discovered self-hypnosis and within 7 days started loosening the shackles that had kept me imprisoned for so long.

MY MISSION

In my mission to find out the science behind why I was getting better, I discovered Cognitive Hypnotherapy. I went on to be trained by its founder - Trevor Silvester - at The Quest Institute based at Regents University, London. I went on to be part of the original team involved in gathering practice-based data, measuring the efficacy of Quest Cognitive Hypnotherapy. (You can find out more on the Cognitive Hypnotherapy page).

PAIN SCIENCE

I decided to dig even deeper into the neurobiology of pain and trained with the Neuro-Orthopaedic Institute. Here I discovered that people suffering with chronic pain who were taught the basics of HOW pain works, went on to gain better relief. It left me wondering - if only someone had given me the basics of pain biology sooner, I wouldn't have had to suffer for almost a decade. I knew what I had to do..

HELPING YOU

Bringing all this powerful knowledge together with my personal experience, I created the BREAK THROUGH PAIN PROGRAMME - so people can break free from the shackles of chronic pain, reclaim their life and start looking forward to an even brighter future. I feel truly privileged that I can help other people achieve the same freedom I now enjoy - to start living the life they want.

TRAINING SPECIALISTS

Pain science moves fast. Not only are we uncovering more about how pain works but also which methodologies, or practices are out-of-date. If we hold in mind "first do no harm" then it is up to us as clinicians to ensure we are letting go of outdated treatments which may at worst be doing more harm. I mentor health professionals 1-2-1, run workshops and longer training programmes for clinicians looking to work towards a more current evidence-based practice. I am also available for talks and conferences. For more information please get in touch.

MORE ABOUT SHEREN'S JOURNEY

You can hear more about my journey and how I used Cognitive Hypnotherapy to break free from persistent pain here:

The Pelvic Health Podcast with Lori Forner & Guest, Sheren Gaulbert