My blog - so...what is it you do?

“So… you need to write a pitch about what you do” I was advised.
“Ok…”
“So what is it you do?”
I responded enthusiastically, “Well I listen to people, really hear and see them, reflect back, make use of theory and techniques that I think will help people…”
“OK, OK…but what in essence is it you’re doing? You need a tagline… you know like ‘every little helps’ those sorts of things”.

I wasn’t sure what my tagline was going to be but it felt easier to put finger to keyboard and start writing my pitch. It started off longer than it has ended and this is the journey to my tag line.

I’m Fleur Newton-Edwards from Seahaven Counselling and Hypnotherapy, based in Newhaven…it began.. can you bring to mind a sign post, maybe one of those older style wooden ones you see in rural areas? Now imagine yourself looking up at that signpost... for some people they see a signpost that’s just blank, there’s nothing written on it. For others, they see the writing clearly and still aren’t sure of which road to take or they don’t feel confident to do this on their own.

Well, this is where I come in. I offer support for those:

• who are going through difficult times, often feeling stuck and as if they have lost their way in life - so those are the ones standing at the sign post and can’ t see anything written on it.

• and then there are those who have a sense of where they want to be and need some support in getting there - they’re the ones who can see the writing on the sign post and want somebody to join them as they chose which direction to go in.

I liked this, it worked for me. It was imagery I’d regularly used in my own therapy. For ages I saw nothing on parts of my signpost and then when I did that was great but feared taking my first step in that direction. So this was it, I had it…so what was I doing? “Helping people find their way”.

This felt so right to me and I felt genuine excitement and then I stopped short, confused at why I hadn't come to this earlier! My logo, my web site imagery, its central feature is a lighthouse, picked because it was a prominent feature in the area and of course, that’s what it’s doing… helping people find their way… especially when that fog descends or the seas get a little rough.

It just shows that sometimes you have to go the long way around to find the route that really makes the impact.