RNIB’s counselling service offers a safe space for you to process a diagnosis
Peter Middleton (56) had very little useful vision in his left eye, unbeknownst to him, until a traumatic accident at work left him without vision in his right eye. Pete found it difficult to ask for help from loved ones, which caused him to experience severe depression, leading him down a dark road. Through RNIB’s Sight Loss Counselling service, he was able to open up about what he was experiencing and learn tools to cope, crediting it with saving his life.
“In January 2023, I had an accident at my work managing a 20-acre private estate. My job was to organise plumbers and heating engineers. We have a gardener, but I also used to do a lot of the groundskeeping myself. One day I was atop a set of triple ladders, about 19 foot in the air, pruning a rosebush, and threw a branch to one side. All I remember is it getting caught and whipping back like a fishing rod. That’s when the rosebush penetrated my right eye, pulling out its iris, and leaving severe damage on the inside.
Unbeknownst to me, my left eye already had very poor sight, and my right had been compensating. As the accident caused me to lose all vision in my right eye, I was then classed as severely sight impaired. Not only was the injury itself traumatic, and the five surgeries I had following it, but it was incredibly traumatic to learn how little sight I had had in my left eye, and that I now had no vision.”
Coping with sight loss and loss of identity with RNIB’s Sight Loss Counselling service
“I'm now no longer fit for work. I’d always been a very active individual; playing golf, and motorbike riding. And we’d even bought a motorhome last year for vacations. The motorbike had to go, and I can’t drive anymore, so my partner has to do all the driving now. It’s been a big change for her and a very difficult time for us both.
“When people see me, they often go, ‘You're managing so well, Pete’ but inside I'm torn to pieces. I think its male pride, that stupid barrier that you put up. It can be very difficult to open up to loved ones, because they know you so well, especially who you were before. So, for me, counselling made a tremendous impact. I applied to RNIB’s Sight Loss Counselling service, and not more than six weeks after the accident, I
started receiving counselling from Elizabeth. We had about eight emergency sessions, and there were a few we had to reschedule, so I saw her for about eight weeks in total. Without any doubt at all, Elizabeth saved my life.”
Asking for help to get through dark times
“Because of the counselling I received from Elizabeth, I turned a massive corner. I was extremely depressed. On the estate, we often hold game shooting days, which means I have access to the shotguns. One day, I walked down to the lake with a shotgun, ready to end my life. In that moment, I imagined my partner walking back with our dogs, and finding me. And I just thought how unfair it would be to her, after everything she’d done for me, looking after me and being my shoulder to cry on. Luckily, that next day, I had my session with Elizabeth. She was amazing and has been throughout the whole process. She was extremely understanding, empathetic and caring, and was an inspiration to me. I think anyone that has had any form of trauma with sight loss needs to use the offer that RNIB has of counselling.”