The Lily Foundation is pleased to be working in partnership with Rareminds to offer a free, confidential counselling service for patients and family members aged 18+ impacted by mitochondrial disease.
Six to twelve sessions can be provided either via Zoom or by telephone. Both evening and daytime appointments are available (weekdays only).
As living with mitochondrial disease happens within the context of your everyday life, it’s inevitable that the ‘ups and downs’ of both impact on each other. You can talk to our counsellors about anything you may be struggling with in living with the emotional impact of mitochondrial disease. This might include:
- the impact on your family, social or work relationships
- anxiety or low mood
- identity (including feeling different, lonely or isolated)
- dealing with difficult, unpredictable or increasing symptoms
- the psychological burden of being the ‘mitochondrial disease expert’
- coping with unpleasant tests or treatment
- making difficult choices
- worries about the future.
The Lily Foundation Counselling Team are Rebecca Hargreaves (Lead Counsellor) and Louise Brookes. Both are trained and experienced therapists who have undertaken additional training with Rareminds on Counselling for Rare Diseases.
It’s not always easy to access counselling. The Lily Foundation counsellors provide a safe, confidential relationship to work through difficult thoughts or feelings, and explore new ways of approaching your difficulties.
Since we launched this service at the start of 2024, we’ve been overwhelmed with interest. The team at Rareminds are currently working at capacity, but we’ll be reopening to new referrals at the end of April.
If you think you would benefit from this service, please email [email protected] in the first instance, marking your email ‘The Lily Foundation counselling’. We’ll add your name to our waiting list and be in touch as soon as possible to arrange an initial consultation.
