Red Magazine.

Article by Celebrity Director Niki Browes

My once smooth talking, sharp dressing father is dying of a rare brain disease. My self esteem was low, my head was in a mess and I was failing to rise to the challenge of planning my wedding.

Going to Thailand to find yourself may sound like a hippy cliché, but this was more like a luxury holiday with added life-coaching, counselling and therapy. All the Life Change practitioners are counsellors and therapists who use a combination of motivational psychology and change therapy “to speed up the natural change process”. There are four hotels to chose from and we stayed in the Rachamankha Hotel, a gorgeous temple like environment.

The next morning, Chrissy, my immensely warm therapist, and I found a secluded part of the hotel and began our first session. Each day there was another session and as Chrissy got to know me a little more out came my fears, and to my horror a few tears.

It soon became apparent that Chrissy is extremely good at her job and the beautiful setting is key. After an intensive session you can gather your thoughts by the pool, visit numerous peaceful temples, have a massage or go elephant trekking, much more appealing than stepping out onto a bleak city street with a mascara streaked face. Then there’s the food. As a vegetarian it is rare for me to be spoilt for choice, but I was, not only was my body being nourished but so was my head- bingo.

I left Chiang Mai and Thailand feeling calm and confident. I realised I wasn’t organising my wedding because I didn’t want to think about Dad not being their or really sick. Chrissy helped me decide what to do. For the first time in ages I began to look forward to getting married again.

The real clincher is the 3 months online counselling and email contact with your practitioner when you return home. I now feel that if I keep following my change therapy programme I’ll have all the tools I need to have a permanent holiday from my own head.