Grateful for my Counsellor via /r/gratitude

In 2021, I was diagnosed with PTSD and scored a 54 on the PCL-5 screening. I still went largely untreated due to limited support services available, and went on a downhill path. I ended up reaching out to my counsellor in 2023.

A year later, I was still extremely anxious, unable to make eye contact and unable to speak above a whisper – but thanks to my counsellor, the traumatic nightmares, emotional flashbacks, negative thoughts, and hypervigilance where either gone or down to a manageable level. I managed to get a job despite my struggles.

Now, 2 years since I started counselling, I did another PCL-5 screening, just to gauge progress. I scored 21. Obviously, this doesn't mean it's gone away, and it probably never will entirely, but given the 33 points lower score than what I had, it's clear progress.

I genuinely attribute a lot of this to my counsellor. Of course, I had to put in the work, so it is me too, but the counsellor has stood by me and helped me through issues both related and unrelated to the PTSD all this time, on a charity basis. I think it would have taken a lot longer without him, and I am grateful for having his consistent support for so long.