Seven-week self-guided resource
Healing Through Self-Compassion
A structured, self-paced invitation to explore self-criticism, boundaries, people-pleasing and a kinder relationship with yourself.
View resourceIntegrative counselling · Braintree & online
A gentler way back to yourself.
Compassionate support for anxiety, people-pleasing, self-criticism and the emotional impact of living with chronic illness.
- BACP registered
- In person in Braintree
- Online sessions
Sureyya Hester BSc Dip MBACP
Founder of the R.I.S.E. reflective framework
A whole-person perspective
A way forward that honours the whole of you.
Living with persistent fatigue or ME/CFS can affect far more than a diary or energy level. A whole-person approach makes room for physical limits, emotions, identity, relationships and what matters to you.
Here, whole-person describes the scope of emotional support around illness—not treatment for the underlying condition. There is no instruction to push through and no promise of a particular outcome.
How counselling fits- 01
Notice
Gently observe the physical, cognitive, emotional and social demands on your energy.
- 02
Respect
Work with your individual, fluctuating limits rather than following fixed increases or someone else’s pace.
- 03
Reconnect
Alongside appropriate medical care, make space for grief, self-compassion, boundaries and small choices that feel like your own.
I’m an integrative counsellor based in Braintree, Essex. I work with women and teenagers who feel worn down by anxiety, people-pleasing, perfectionism, low self-esteem or the emotional weight of chronic illness.
My work is shaped by professional training and my own reported experience of severe ME/CFS and FND. Lived experience can bring empathy; it is never treated as proof that your body, story or path will be the same as mine.
Clear scope, no miracle promises.
Counselling can support emotional wellbeing alongside medical care. It does not diagnose, treat or cure ME/CFS, FND or any other medical condition.
Ways to work together
Meet yourself where you are.
Choose a starting point that matches your energy, pace and need for support. You can change direction at any time.
01 / Connect
Free 15-minute connection call
Ask questions and see whether working together feels right before choosing any paid support.
Arrange a first conversation 02 / SessionsTelephone or in-person support
Choose a 30-minute telephone-based session for £30 or a 50-minute in-person session for £60.
Compare the session options 03 / ProgrammeReset & R.I.S.E.
A 12-week programme created to support wellbeing and gently build capacity for people living with fatigue-related conditions.
Explore the CFS support programmeThe R.I.S.E. framework
Four prompts for coming home to yourself.
R.I.S.E. is Sureyya’s proprietary reflective counselling framework. It organises conversations and exercises; it is not a medically validated treatment for ME/CFS or FND.
How R.I.S.E. is usedR
Recognise
Notice the pattern without judgement.
I
Integrate
Make space for what the pattern protected.
S
Stabilise
Practise supportive choices and boundaries.
E
Empower
Move towards values that feel like your own.
Self-guided resources
Thoughtful work, at your pace.
Each purchase is currently completed through the existing WooCommerce store while a native protected library is planned.
Introductory self-guided resource
Stop Pleasing, Start Living
A concise introduction to noticing obligation, guilt and habitual people-pleasing, with reflective tools to try at your own pace.
View resource
Most completeBoth self-guided resources
Course Bundle
Begin with Stop Pleasing, Start Living, then continue into the seven-week Healing Through Self-Compassion resource.
View resourceFind a starting point
Not sure where to begin?
Choose the sentence that feels closest. This is a navigation guide, not a quiz, diagnosis or clinical recommendation.
A possible starting point
Begin with a human conversation
Start with a free 15-minute connection call, then choose a 30-minute telephone session or 50-minute in-person session if the approach feels right.
Explore ways to work togetherThis guide does not diagnose or recommend medical treatment. You remain in control of what feels right.
Evidence-led journal
Warmth, with the receipts.
Every health claim sits beside a live source. Uncertainty is shown, personal experience is labelled, and automated drafts cannot publish themselves.
ME/CFS
Perfectionism and ME/CFS: what the evidence can — and can’t — tell us
Perfectionism may matter to emotional wellbeing, but current research does not show that it causes ME/CFS or that addressing it is required for recovery.
Sources attached · clinical review pending
Read with sources ME/CFS
Nervous-system tracking and ME/CFS: a reflective tool, not a cure
Gentle self-observation may help some people describe patterns and needs. It is not an established cure for ME/CFS and must respect post-exertional malaise and individual energy limits.
Sources attached · clinical review pending
Read with sources FND
FND and trauma: associated for some, never required for diagnosis
Trauma and stressful events are more common in some groups with FND, but they are not universal and should not be treated as the sole explanation for an individual’s symptoms.
Sources attached · clinical review pending
Read with sources Calm & Connection · Braintree
A monthly room where you don’t have to explain.
A local support group for people living with ME/CFS, FND and other fatigue-related conditions. Parents and carers are welcome; no formal diagnosis is required.
- Second Monday of each month · 11am–12pm
- Salvation Army Hall, 26–28 Rayne Road, Braintree CM7 2QH
- Wheelchair accessible · suggested cash donation £2–£5
A first conversation
You don’t have to arrive with the right words.
Start with a free 15-minute connection call, then decide whether a telephone session, in-person session or programme feels right.