I would like to take this opportunity to pass on my thanks to Yarra Valley Practitioners and Joane Goulding for offering the program to parents at Middle Kinglake Primary School.

I‘m a mother of a 9-year-old boy and we unfortunately lost our house in the Black Saturday bushfires. My parents also lost their home and together with the loss of the school and sadly, many friends of both my sons, and mine we have felt quite devastated. We were unable to leave Kinglake on that night and we were forced to battle the fire when it came. This was very traumatic, especially for my son.

In October 2009 my son developed symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the form of frequent panic attacks, bedwetting and eventually an eating disorder which made him unable to swallow many solid foods. My son began to see a child Psychologist who helped him with many aspects of his PTSD, as did the school councillor. My son was still having trouble with separation anxiety, processing worries, bedwetting, confidence, being in large crowds, going to sleep and general happiness.

I didn’t know anything about but I needed some way to help my son and after reading the information from Yarra Valley Practitioners I thought it was worth a try. Having the sessions in Kinglake made it possible for me to attend.

The change in my boy is amazing! I noticed a difference in him after only one week and he gets better every day. The separation, crowd and sleep issues have disappeared and there are improvements with his bedwetting. The thing that has meant the most to me is to see his confidence and happiness returning.

I have passed on Joane’s details to a friend who lost her husband in the fires and who has a boy who has not responded to other forms of counselling and is understandably very distressed. I look forward to continuing to work with Joane, and I will be forever grateful to her for helping me to help my son

Thank you for making this program available to assist our emotional recovery.

2010 – Yours sincerely, Kinglake Mum