“As your kids grow up, they might forget what you said. But they never forget how you made them feel.” Kevin Heath, Parents.com

Testimonials

The following testimonials are from three LION clients who have received therapy since 2023. They are referred to by an initial, to protect their Confidentiality.

The Story of J.

A Little Background 

J. was 20 years old and five months pregnant when she started therapy with a LION Therapist in August 2024. This interview was done two years later in September 2026.

J.’s parents separated when she was three years old due to domestic violence and her Dad moved away.  A feature of her childhood was how her Dad would promise to come and get her every other Friday after school, but would only turn up once every 12 weeks, then wouldn’t answer her calls, sometimes only calling back over a week later.  Her stepdad came into her life aged 5 and started to be emotionally abusive when J. was 6.  She remembers feeling scared of him a lot.  She got expelled from school aged 12 for carrying a knife to protect herself against her first boyfriend who was incredibly coercively controlling, then she lost her best friend to suicide the following year.  Aged 15, she developed a serious eating disorder.  J.’s Mum asked her to leave home aged 17, a year into another abusive romantic relationship, so she found herself in care briefly, before becoming homeless and having a psychotic breakdown following serious substance misuse. Soon after coming out of hospital, she met S., the father of her baby. S. had grown up in care following suffering abuse and neglect at the hands of his parents. By the time S. started her LION Therapy, the relationship between S. and J. had turned violent on a number of occasions.

J.’s Interview

Question: Why does being in long-term therapy rather than having 3 or 6 months of treatment make the difference for you?

J:  I don’t think 3 or 6 months will help anyone work through their trauma, to be honest. I think to dig deep into yourself requires being in therapy for a few years.  At the start of it, I was in denial about the things I needed to work through and it takes time to build a relationship of trust before you tell certain things.  Initially, I was happy to talk about some things in my past, but I had a paranoia that my LION Therapist would shop me to Social Services. For example, I didn’t tell her about my boyfriend’s physical attacks on me when it had been my birthday, I just told her we had had a verbal fight and that he had said horrid things to me.  I didn’t tell her he punched me in my ears and choked me because I was worried she would tell Social Services and that would jeopardise me being able to keep my baby.   I was given my therapist’s name by a former social worker which means I didn’t entirely believe her when she told me everything I said would be confidential. I didn’t believe her until we had been working together about 18 months.  I guess I didn’t have much faith in professionals, to be honest, by the time I met her.  When I got expelled at 12, I had seen CAMHS and they had been pretty horrible.  Then when I was 15, I was severely anorexic and agoraphobic and CAMHS just weighed me but didn’t help me with the mental side of things.  I saw a school therapist for a bit and she was nice, but I was day-dreaming all the time and didn’t really speak to her.  I was quite paranoid at the start of my LION therapy, also probably due to being homeless for 8 months when I was 17.  Your trust in others wears pretty thin in those situations. 

Question: Do you think LION Therapy has been effective in helping you make healthier relationships? If so, how?

J: I think it has helped me see my part in making abusive relationships.  For example, I used to trust strangers and then bad things would happen.   After Mum kicked me out, I became friends with this random Pakistani guy from Birmingham who worked at Oxford Parkway Station and he befriended me, or rather groomed me, I now realise, by offering me cocaine and weed and food.  I was homeless at that point and he would take me to hotels so I could have a long bath and no-one would pester me.  Anyway, after 7 months of that, he told me he hadn’t booked a hotel and that I should jump in the car with one of his mates and I did and the mate got nasty and parked up somewhere, at which point another car came and they shouted at me to get in the boot of the other car and I realised I was seconds away from getting kidnapped so I sat down cross-legged on the floor of the car park, got my crystals out and started crying, praying they would leave me alone.  The heavens opened and I just sat there getting soaked.  Perhaps they thought I was cracked or something, I don’t know, but the Oxford Parkway guy put me back in his car and drove me back to the train station.  A couple of weeks later, I had my psychotic breakdown and was hospitalised for several months.

Looking back to that period after two years of therapy, I can see how ridiculously trusting of people I was then and how close I came to being sex trafficked.  I would never dream of trusting anyone like that now. I think my way of thinking changed because in telling my LION Therapist about this and seeing her reaction, I came to view it with a new pair of eyes.  I am more cautious now generally and I only share things with people I know I can rely on, like my two close friends.  Back then I was reckless because I didn’t feel I had a reason to live.  Looking back, I think I kept putting myself in unsafe situations because I didn’t like myself.  I like myself much more than I used to and I am sure that is partly to do with how much I know my LION Therapist cares about me.    She has shown me how much I matter.  I think that goes in somehow, in a slow, drip-drip way, you know?  For example, when I got pregnant again when B. was only 6 months old, she helped me figure out what to do.  I ended up having a termination and I am pleased I did because things with S. were really bad and I couldn’t have coped with two kids so close together.  She was there to talk it through with me and it was really helpful. 

Question: If you had the money to donate to a good cause, why would you give money to LION Therapy? 

J: So many people need a good therapist but can’t afford it.  I think if you find the right person, you really can work through a lot of stuff. I would like other people to get the help that they deserve.  As to whether you should see someone online or in-person, I think therapy in person gives you a real sense of what the therapist is like and it helps me being in her room, as I can see from the objects she has chosen who she is. It makes me feel comfortable.  

The Story of S.

A Little Background 

S. started LION Therapy aged 18 having just moved to London from a northern town to start her undergraduate degree.  As a child, her father had worked away from home in hotels, returning sometimes at weekends.  Her mother suffered from Bipolar Disorder and made frequent suicide attempts whereupon S. would have to call the ambulance on finding her unconscious.  To placate her mother she would clean the house from an early age, but it never stopped her mother raging at her. She had two older brothers who were autistic. Her mother seemed to prefer the boys and never made them do any domestic chores.  S. developed an eating disorder in her final years of school and spent the summer before she started her degree in hospital. When her therapist first met her, S. was underweight, eating badly, drinking heavily and walking the streets of South London alone in the small hours of the night, seemingly oblivious to its dangers. Within six months of starting therapy, she had begun her first romantic relationship with a very disturbed young man who turned out to be highly abusive.  This lasted 18 months and ended in a dangerous fashion.  She is doing a lot better now.

S.’s Interview

Question: How long have you been in therapy?

S: I have been in therapy with LION since 2023 (3 years).

Question: Why does being in long-term therapy rather than having 3 or 6 months of treatment make the difference for you?

S:  I have come to understand how my early childhood experiences normalised  abusive, neglectful and sometimes violent behaviour from my mother who suffered Bipolar Disorder.  This meant the early signs of an abusive relationship did not raise alarm bells to me – it was familiar and therefore felt normal.  Being treated this way as a kid caused me to suffer low self-esteem, anxiety, depression and made it difficult to maintain relationships. When I met my first romantic partner aged 18, he mirrored my mother’s volatile, controlling and neglectful behaviour. I became very attached to someone who could not meet my needs, who was verbally/physically abusive and isolated me from what support network I had built in moving to London. Instead of escaping from the unsafe situation he presented, I felt increasingly responsible for my partner’s mental health and worked even harder to look after him, despite the ongoing abuse, repeatedly putting his needs above my own.

Therapy has given me clarity on the abuse I suffered as a child allowing me to link the unconscious habits that formed early on with the abusive situation I was manifesting in the present. This breakthrough allowed me to make the necessary changes to transform all my relationships, releasing me from feeling trapped in repetitions of my childhood trauma. It has also given me a stronger sense of self by understanding my own needs, to name my emotions, to set boundaries, to be able to communicate openly and therefore to establish a more equal dynamic with friends and potential partners. You could say therapy gave me the experience of a healthy relationship, where I felt deserving of respect and safety.  Now I know how that feels, I have been able to go out and find it in the world outside. Thank Goodness!. 

Question: Do you think the length of the therapy has had a bearing on whether it was successful? If so, why?

S.: The length of therapy has been crucial to the success of transforming my mental health and relationships, as the trust built in the therapeutic relationship over time has allowed me to explore years of trauma throughout my childhood which had felt impossible to even speak about previously. In building trust with my therapist, I was able to be honest about my experiences, which enabled me to notice patterns and therefore change my behaviour, gradually allowing me to trust myself over time. The length of therapy allowed me to heal from my unhelpful coping mechanisms such as an eating disorder and substance abuse, which numbed me from the pain of my trauma and prevented me from making real change.

It has taken several years to break free from these habits that distracted me from addressing the root of my issues, to leave unhealthy relationships and to start building a life based on fulfilling my own needs.  Now I feel able to ask for support from my friends and to create healthy coping mechanisms that help me to manage the PTSD symptoms caused by my previous relationship. This real change took months as it can only be uncovered as you take the time to learn about yourself, to see the cycles you are trapped in. Furthermore, the length of therapy enabled me to start to feel the incremental, positive repercussions of my growing self-awareness.  Seeing my therapist every week, month after month, year after year, offered me consistency, reliability and a feeling I mattered - all unknown to me in my childhood.  These things have given me the motivation and agency to keep making better choices for myself. 

Question: If you had the money to donate to a good cause, why would you give money to LION Therapy? 

S.: LION Therapy has the potential not only to transform lives, but to save them. The therapy I received enabled me to overcome a life-threatening eating disorder which previous treatment have not helped and to tackle dangerous substance abuse issues which put me in unsafe and vulnerable positions. In healing my body, I was able to address my mental health issues, and vice versa. LION Therapy helped me leave an abusive relationship where I was sexually, emotionally and physically abused, giving me the strength to call the police after I was trapped for days and almost killed by my partner.  As a result, a prolific abuser is now being investigated, has a curfew and will possibly face a jail sentence, preventing other women from being harmed.

Thanks to the therapy I have done, I am able to say that I live a full, healthy life.  This felt like an impossible goal, even a year ago. It has helped me to build a great support network, create a safe environment for myself, heal from childhood trauma, learn to look after my body and my mental health and to turn to pursuing a career in art therapy having completed my BA in Fine Art. The knock-on effect of each of these successes is invaluable to me and the tools I have acquired throughout therapy will stay with me throughout the rest of my life.

The Story of C.

A Little Background 

C. was taken into care at eight years old due to domestic violence and substance misuse by her parents.  She lived in foster homes until she was 18, at which point she moved out into her own council flat, and started a Social Work degree.  Her LION Therapist was referred to her in the final year of her Social Work degree.  Two years on, T. has qualified as a social worker, is in a stable and happy relationship and is currently relied upon by 17 children as their social worker.

C.’s Interview

Question: How long have you been in therapy?

C: I have been in therapy with LION since April 2024, so for 2.5 years now.

Question: Why does being in long-term therapy rather than having 3 or 6 months of treatment make the difference for you?

C:  Trauma isn’t confined to a particular time so the idea that something I am experiencing is going to change in 12 sessions doesn’t feel realistic. It takes time to build a relationship and only then can you get to the gritty stuff.  Seeing my LION therapist long-term means I am invested and she is invested in me.  She remembers things I told her months, even years ago now, which become relevant as new things occur. That makes you feel properly heard and listened to.  As a child in care, I didn’t feel listened to – for example, I didn’t want to leave my parents - but I didn’t get a choice about that.  Later on, in decisions about whether to stay or leave a foster placement, it is hard to be honest about how you feel when you are given a new social worker you have only just met. Being able to be honest with someone comes when you can trust them and trust comes with time. 

I was also used to people to saying they would do things, then not doing them, but the long-term relationship with my LION Therapist has helped change that expectation. She is totally reliable, she is there when she says she will be, she has never let me down.  When I sent her a picture of the new car I managed to buy recently, she replied saying how thrilled she was and that felt genuine because I feel sure that I matter to her. 

To put it simply, when I started I used to feel 98% awful, all the time. Now it is more like 10% and usually because the world has thrown me a curve ball. What a difference that is!

Question: Do you think it has been effective in helping you make healthier relationships? If so, how?

C.: That question immediately makes me think of my previous session with my LION Therapist when I told her about how my friend had sowed a doubt in my mind about my boyfriend.  I was upset, obviously, but what we spoke about was how I am impressed with myself in how I handled it. I found I didn’t need to immediately act and intrude on my boyfriend’s night out with his friends, but was able to wait to talk to him about how I was feeling until the next time we spoke. I was able to sit in those uncomfortable feelings.  Before therapy, if someone had questioned my beliefs or sowed doubt about a relationship that mattered to me, I wouldn’t have been able to think about the other person and what they needed (to enjoy their night out).  I would have HAD to get in touch with them and that would probably have made them feel I was clingy which would have been bad for the relationship. 

In the old days I wouldn’t have been able to sleep or concentrate on other things until I  got the reassurance I was desperately craving.  I wouldn’t have been able to just be in the feeling.  That has really changed as by not acting immediately on the feelings, I notice they diminish in intensity and become more manageable. In the following therapy session, we reflected on the fact that maybe the friend was a bit jealous of my relationship and might have been being a bit mean, so I didn’t have to put so much store by it anyway.

I think this shift also reflects how I value and believe in myself more and I know that is thanks to my therapy. For example, I am much better at recognising when someone else has done something that is not OK.  I can actually see it and can put boundaries in place to ensure I am being treated properly.  I think talking to my therapist about ‘Little me’ and how she felt growing up has made me realise how I had to just accept what others did. Now ‘Big me’ can step in and say ‘Little me’ doesn’t want to be treated that way.  It has also given me the language to talk to my boyfriend about when ‘Little me’ comes out and surprises him and not in a good way.  For example, the other night he was making burgers for our dinner and he set off the smoke alarm. I got really triggered and starting shouting at him.  He was understandably a bit upset by my reaction. I later realised in my LION Therapy session that smoke alarms remind me of police sirens and ‘Little me’ had gotten triggered by the smoke alarm going off because she’d had to cope with feeling scared when my parents got into big fights and neighbours would call the police.  When I went back to my boyfriend with what we had figured out, it helped him make sense of my reaction to the alarm and he could feel empathetic towards me instead of seeing me as the scary one.

Having a ‘Big me’ advocating for ‘Little me’ makes all the difference.

Question: If you had the money to donate to a good cause, why would you give money to LION Therapy? 

C.: I know up close and personal what benefit LION Therapy has had on me and how far I have come.  I was never on the wrong track exactly, but LION Therapy allowed me to persist in things – for example I am not sure I would have managed to complete my Social Work degree.  When I started with my LION Therapist, I was in a rough patch. I was struggling to get my assignments for my course done and really feeling overwhelmed by writing my dissertation, for example. I was upset all the time, crying a lot. If one thing went wrong then it seemed everything was wrong.  I was feeling so low I would find it too much to take the rubbish out or clean my flat.  I wore leggings and hoodies all the time and felt bad about my body and my appearance.  Now I am dressing much better, finding my own style and feeling much more confident in myself.  I can keep my flat clean and I never have to remind myself to take out the bins. Before my therapy, if I thought I had put a foot wrong I would feel terrible dread and panic which led to me doing a lot of OCD behaviours.  I could never have left anything, like an email which came just as I was supposed to finish work, until the next day and it felt terrifying not actioning things, but now I know it doesn’t matter and I can leave it to 9am the next day. 

New stuff keeps on happening of course – for example, my sister who was adopted when she was two and I was eight - recently got in touch as she just turned 18 - but knowing I have my LION Therapist to talk to about this makes it feel much less tricky to navigate. This is because I have support from someone I can rely on, someone who really knows me, who knows my history and understands what this new contact from my sister stirs up in me, but also how much it means to me to have her back in my life. I really want to be able to be a good big sister to her again!