Bach Flower Consults Online is run by Linsey Denham and this page lets you know a bit about me and to put a face to the name.
My background
I was a nurse for 26 years, finishing up in December 2006 whilst the assistant manager of the Drop in centre at the Sick Kids hospital in Edinburgh, where I did my Sick Kids training and nursed in ITU for 13 yrs.
Apart from 4 years during my adult training and my first staff-nurse post, I spent most of my nursing career looking after sick babies and children which means that I am experienced in helping whole families to deal with anxiety, stress and illness.
My passion has always been in the supportive side of nursing and my career ended, doing just that, at the Drop-in centre. This centre was created to be used by families of children who use the Sick Kids hospital and once its doors opened, in May 2006, my job greatly involved giving emotional support to the children and families who came through the door. These families were experiencing a varied range of illness including cancer, cystic fibrosis, asthma, diabetes. There were also families dealing with the turmoil of having a child admitted into the intensive care/high dependency/neonatal units.
Despite loving the emotional support I could give in my job, I was torn because I was unable to pass on my knowledge of the Bach Flower remedies and how they could help these families to get through the stresses of hospital-life and illness in general. I also desperately missed being at home for my kids.
After much soul-searching, I concluded that many people could do my job, at the Drop-in centre and that I would be of better service as a Bach Practitioner, offering my knowledge of the flower remedies which give emotional help to those who need it.
With that thought in mind, I resigned to set up my Bach Practice, from home and I have since completed my Reiki master and teacher levels of training, which allows me to channel Reiki healing energy for my clients and teach others this wonderful method of healing.
So, here I am. A nurse no more but with years of experience of supporting people through birth, breastfeeding, parenthood, stress, anxiety, growing-up, adolescence, illness, anger, fear and bereavement. Now I am doing so, using the gentle, healing properties of the Bach flower remedies and Reiki.
I have been a qualified Bach Foundation Practitioner since the summer of 2005, but have used the remedies for myself and my friends/family for many years. I became a Reiki practitioner in the Spring of 2007.
My experience of helping people troubled by negative emotions includes:
- worry
- guilt
- fear
- anger
- lack of confidence
- Poor self-image/esteem
- Resentment
- Pessimism
- Impatience/intolerance
My experience of helping people in specific situations includes:
- illness
- bereavement
- work-place stress
- breastfeeding
- pregnancy
- fear of flying
- exam-stress
- sibling rivalry/tantrums in children
- separation/divorce
I have experience of working with all age groups from the very young to the very elderly.
About me
Growing up in Craigmillar (one of Edinburgh's poorer areas) and working for a wealthy Canadian couple (as a nanny
) has given me a very balanced outlook on life. I consider myself very lucky to have been able to see life through such different lenses.
Apart from 7 years in Canada (which included the nanny
bit, a marriage, a divorce, the birth of my son and taking out Canadian citizenship) I have always lived in East Edinburgh and I now live in the Portobello area with my husband and our 3 kids who are aged 11-17yrs.
Having lived with chronic back-pain for many years (and taking anti-depressants for the 3rd time) I was lead to the Bach Flower Remedies, by a friend, who gave me her practitioner’s phone number. The remedies replaced the anti-depressants, providing me with the emotional support I needed for which I will be eternally grateful. They didn’t erase my back-pain but changed my perception about my ability to live with it.
Convinced of the healing abilities of the flower remedies (my husband thought that he had a new wife) I decided to become a Bach practitioner so that I could help others the way that I was helped.
My 2 ultimate goals were to help my whole family survive (and perhaps even enjoy) adolescence and to introduce the remedies into the NHS.
We’re well underway with my first goal as my eldest 2 are teenagers and still happily communicating with and walking on the same side of the street as us!
My ties with the Sick Kids have lead to my being able to introduce the remedies into the hospital for the staff to use, after a very successful trial, thus achieving my second goal. I am hopeful of funding becoming available to expand this, as at present I am only in for 4 unfunded hours per week....it's a beginning.
I have added a third goal which is that of trying to assist teachers and pupils alike, in the education system and have made a start by talking to the staff of my local schools. I'm convinced that I was given 3 kids of my own to practice using the remedies on and seeing their emotional benefits, from using them, I'm keen to help other youngsters who may be struggling with their emotions.
My Reiki developed after receiving advice to do the level 1 Reiki course myself, for emotional protection and healing. I had such profound experiences with my self-healing that I knew that I wanted to progress to offering Reiki healing to others and I am now not only qualified to do this but am able to teach others how to use this healing method in their own lives. I plan to run 1 level course for 2 people each month, empowering others to take charge of their own healing and to help them realise that they are very special individuals. Reiki has allowed me to become much less judgemental of others and has helped me to open myself up to the receiving and giving of love. Like the Bach flower remedies Reiki is a gentle, safe, non-invasive form of self-healing and combining it with the remedies creates a perfect combination of continuous self-healing.
As an individual, I have a huge amount of personal experience which allows me to have empathy with many of my clients. This includes having nursed a parent with cancer, divorce, living in a foreign country, bereavement, chronic pain, depression, parenthood, alcoholism and work-place stress.
These experiences help me to be non-judgemental and to be able to help clients feel safe about revealing their feelings to themselves and to me.