Cure children’s emetophobia with The Thrive Programme

The brilliant Will smashes his emetophobia with The Thrive Programme!

It's incredibly difficult for the whole family when you have a child who suffers from emetophobia (fear of being sick). It can disrupt everything from their mealtimes, to their schooling, to their bedtime. As it parent, it's not easy to know how to best deal with your child with emetophobia: whether to give in to their demands for control, or to remain steadfast and maintain parenting rules.

12 year old Will recently finished the Thrive Programme, after attending with his mum Sarah. Both did fantastically well at engaging with the programme and applying what they learned to make massive, positive changes to their lives.

Here, Sarah has kindly written a few words about her experience of The Thrive Programme:

Our 11 year old son started suffering with emetophobia in the summer of 2018, we tried all the usual methods and eventually got a referral to CAMHS but it was a six month wait. After speaking to a friend who had been through the Thrive programme with Cara we decided to give it a go.

I can honestly say it was the best decision we ever made as a family.

We had watched our happy, confident, smiley child deteriorate before our eyes into someone who wouldn’t go out with friends for fear of being sick and eventually he started refusing to go to school. Within six weeks we had our smiley, happy boy back. Thrive is all about learning how to deal with your own emotions and self confidence and it soon became evident that it was the “building blocks” of self confidence that Will (and I as his mum) needed to re-establish.

Cara is amazing and I feel that we have benefitted as a family rather than just Will as an individual. He does have the occasional blip but he now has the tools to manage it and we are Thriving as a family unit and are able to enjoy doing things together again without worrying about sick, this is all thanks to Cara and the wonderful Thrive programme. Cara gives you plenty of support during the week also in between sessions as well, I would definitely recommend Thrive to anyone who is finding managing anxiety and emetophobia on their own difficult. Thank you Cara!

UPDATE! Since writing this testimonial, Sarah has been in touch with another, really inspiring update:

"I just wanted to send you a quick update on Will. We are currently on holiday and he’s been fantastic. On the plane on the way here he was next to a little boy who was sick, he didn’t flinch and dealt with it brilliantly. Last year we were at a wedding when someone was sick and he had a complete meltdown, I was expecting a similar reaction and was so happy when it didn’t come.

He has been paragliding too, he said when he got off, that there was no way he would have done that last year, we’ve been out on a speed boat and a pedaloe all without any mention of sick. He has come such a long way and I’m so proud of him but none of it would have been possible without your help.

Thank you, we are all so happy and have had a really lovely time as a family. I wish Thrive was available on the nhs. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! X"

 

If you would like to find out more about The Thrive Programme for children with emetophobia, contact me on 07740 781 573, or email info@caraostryn.co.uk