Q: How did you become and how did you overcome your aquaphobia with ALP lessons?
Lauren: I had parents who just didn’t take me swimming. Apparently, my Mum could swim but I never saw her in water. My Dad was allergic to chlorine – so he never got in water at all. I grew up in Blackpool but apart from paddling in the shallow sea there, I’d never really been in water at all. When I got into year 6, I was due to have school swimming lessons and I think my parents freaked out a bit, thinking that everybody could swim, and I was the only child who couldn’t swim at all.
I have an older sister and when I was 10, they sent me swimming with her a couple of times and she tried to get me to float on my back. However, I didn’t trust her not to push me under – although she never did - so that didn’t go well. After that I was due to have my school swimming lessons, but at the pool before the lesson, I unfortunately had quite a bad accident and chopped the end of my finger off in one of the heavy doors.
The consequences of that were that I had to have an operation and was out of action so I couldn’t have my school lessons. So, I still hadn’t really been in water.
Another year or so went by and when I was about 11 my parents did have another attempt to try and get me to swim and they booked lessons for me. They decided that I needed private swimming lessons and that’s what gave me my water phobia. Until then I was neutral about water and swimming.
Q: So, may I ask, what in that lesson caused you to have a phobia?
Lauren: Well, where I learned there was an enormous swimming pool, an Olympic sized pool, but there was also a separate room with quite a big trainer pool in it. I was quite tiny at 11 and the water was very deep for me - it was up to the top of my chest and the whole pool was the same depth. The teacher just kept telling me to swim – but as I’d never been in the water, I didn’t know the concept of floating or swimming. So, every time I tried to move or leaned forward, in whatever way I could, I obviously went under the water a lot. All the teacher did was just push me back into the middle of the pool repeatedly with a long pole. He was just sitting on the side. I inhaled large amounts of water and he had to jump in in the end and pull me out from under the water. I was in quite a bad way – I was laid out on the side of the pool for quite a long time, unable to breathe very well and was coughing up lots of water. This experience shouldn’t have happened. And that was what did it really. That gave me an extreme fear of water.
Utterly horrendous. I was 11 then. I’m 52. 41 years ago.
So that gave me the phobia. I couldn’t even be splashed in the face. I basically avoided all water activities. I didn’t go on a boat; I couldn’t walk around the edge of a swimming pool. I avoided everything to do with water.
Q: What about having a shower or bath.
LAUREN: I could go in the bath, but I couldn’t put my head in the water. I could have a shower but couldn’t put my face under the shower.
Q: What do think it would make you feel if you had put your face under the water in a bath or shower?
LAUREN: I just got that gasp (gag reflex) where I couldn’t breathe. It was an automatic reflex that I didn’t have any control over.
Q: The consequences of what that swimming teacher did are quite staggering really – the effect it had on your life. And of course, presumably it’s not just you, it’s your family and friends as well?
LAUREN: It has affected absolutely everything really. I do have children, so I made sure that they had proper swimming lessons. And while they had a lot of choice over the activities they did, for me swimming lessons were something they just had to do. And they both loved it; they are really good swimmers and swim a lot now.
Q: That’s very good that you didn’t let that negative cycle transference happen.
LAUREN: No. I was pretty determined that I wasn’t going to let that happen. They never knew until they were already good swimmers, that I had a fear of water.
Q: That’s pretty exceptional. Because a lot of people we have come across and parents, have transferred that fear to their children. So, at the moment we are looking at research into the importance of Parent and Baby classes in terms of overcoming fear, social bonding and child development. Parents who are scared of water or have limited aquatic skills, either abstain and miss out all together or they will transfer their stress into the child during the swimming lesson.
LAUREN: It happens a lot and, in my job as a clinical hypnotherapist, I see a lot of aquaphobic adults, and see that often the stress has been transferred from their parents. Either from a bad experience or directly from parents, who were always extremely worried around water.
Q: How do these people get to you?
LAUREN: I’ve been doing this job for quite a long time. I’m quite a well-known hypnotherapist in the area. I do get people who travel quite a long way to see me and I get referrals as a Clinical Hypnotherapist. Obviously, it’s the quality of your life that’s important. I think people get to the point in their life where they think “I need to do something about this”. I work on a lot of desensitisation for different phobias and issues, including water. Quite often when people are having lessons, or even before they can begin lessons, I step in and try and help them there. And for a lot of people, if they have experienced a negative experience in a pool, the smell of chlorine is a trigger for them.
Q: How did you meet Tom Glover at Glovers Swim School and what inspired you to go and take lessons?
LAUREN: I decided that enough was enough. I was already a clinical hypnotherapist then, so I did quite a lot of prep on myself. I decided that I wasn’t going to let this fear defeat me anymore. My motivation was as much to show to myself that I could overcome something to be honest, as an ability to swim. Because really, technically, I have spent most of my life not swimming and I thought if I don’t swim, I can still live with it, because I have already lived with it all my life. I wouldn’t say the drive was particularly being able to swim, it was that I needed to be strong enough to overcome the fear and show myself that I can actually do something that terrifies me. That was my motivation.
I was 49, so, I was coming up to my 50th birthday, which was probably, subconsciously, a bit of a driver as well. I found Tom by chance, just phoning around. I knew that I wanted one to one lessons, I knew that I wasn’t capable of getting in a pool with a lot of different adults, even though they were adult learners. I found a gap in the market regarding this, which is where you probably found it. It’s easy to find children’s lessons but not so easy for adult lessons. This was 3 years ago.
Q: How long did you have ALP lessons for?
LAUREN: Well, Tom started off by teaching me to put my face in the water and I did nearly leave because I thought no, I want to swim with my head out of the water. That was a really big issue for me. However, Tom was amazing, and I stayed. He taught me ALP safe breathing techniques. So, I had quite a lot of lessons but then unfortunately I got diagnosed with cancer and I had to stop my lessons for a year because I needed a lot of treatment. I went back again once I was better. Then I had another break for another operation. But then I went back again and stopped having lessons in October 2019. So, it’s been a bit on and off.
Q: What did Tom do in the ALP lessons that helped you so much?
LAUREN: He was very patient and understanding. I needed to do some self-hypnosis before I could get my head in the water, every single time I had to get in. Tom gave me space to do that and never rushed me. He was very encouraging, in a realistic way, and suggested that I should keep a diary on my phone of the things that I’d done well.
Every time I turned up for the lesson I still panicked initially. I spent weeks and weeks panicking before my lesson and feeling really sick and shaking. It took quite a lot of getting over, but I consistently went and Tom was consistently there. He showed unconditional positive support and patience through my moments of self-doubt and occasional tears of frustration.
I also found, what was really good, is that he listened to what I was saying and doing and tailored my next ALP session, taking that into account with this excellent programme. So, if I’d gone backwards a bit, he wouldn’t just press on relentlessly, he would go back and address that issue. I found both Tom and ALP extremely responsive and that really helped me. I now swim every week and I love it!
This has ultimately helped me change a number of other areas of my life in a much more positive and confident way, that I would not have done prior to overcoming my aquaphobia.
Feel like you could benefit from ALP lessons with Tom or Diane, give us a call on 01772 802140!
Hi readers, I hope your all well, todays blog is filling you in on all the Glover goss. So to start, how fast is this year going?!
At the Swim School…
Our numbers are on the up and we are looking for more pool time, so we have an awesome reward for those of you who might have THEE contacts. If you find us a pool and we start regular teaching hours there, we will offer one of your children free lessons for life (all the way from Stage 1 to 7 in our Aqua Heroes programme)!
We are probably one of the only swim schools in the area to provide swimming lessons for people from 3 months and upwards. That’s why we are putting in hours of work into our pre-school programme at the moment to make it better. We think we are pretty good anyway (not letting our heads get too big), but we are going to make it even better! So, over the next 12 – 18 months, we are hoping to roll out a brand spanking new Aqua Babies programme! Watch this space.
Team Glovers…
We have a new teacher joining us called Bella. You will love her! Extremely experienced, sweet and the kids love her! You will see her across all three programmes, Aqua Babies, Aqua Heroes and Aqua Legends because she’s multi-skilled!
We also have an office newbie… Jo! Jo will be joining us from the end of March. She’s pretty much my sister (sister from another mister some people may say), and therefore an extension of the Glover family. Jo has lots of office experience and is having a change from previously being a Dental Nurse. She currently has her little one Maddy swimming with us on a Friday morning too, so knows what goes on from a parents point of view!
Home life…
Tom and myself (mainly myself, in fact, probably 99% myself) are currently planning our wedding! Then I’ll officially be a Glover! It’s in March 2021 and so far we’ve got the venue, food, the bridesmaid dresses and my dress sorted; all the important stuff obviously. Flowers and suits next, plus the mammoth job of hand making my invites. I won’t know what to do with myself when it’s all over.
Me? I’m great, I touched in my last blog about “Real life motherhood”. I’m finding everything so much easier the older Edie’s getting. However, we are still hit and miss in the sleep department, so any tips, send them my way!
Edie bobs…
She’s rocking up for 10 months old now, sofa surfing every minute of every day but suddenly she’s taken to falling over. I think it’s because she’s getting brave and seeing if her little feet can balance her, unaided. Everyone keeps saying, it won’t be long until she’s walking, but I can’t picture her doing that just yet.
Edie, or Bobbie as we call her, is just animal obsessed! Horses, dogs and chickens are her firm favourites. Our dog Hattie doesn’t get a minute’s peace anymore, poor thing, so my question to you guys is, what is the best day out where animals are included? Petting zoo’s, safaris, whatever, which ones do you rate the most?
Here’s a picture of Edie enjoying the geegees with Grandad. Speak soon, Jess x
Swim School Co-ordinator and Owner Tom looks back at a very successful year and looks ahead to what’s next.
We are delighted to announce Glover’s Swim School are the 2019 Swim England Swim School of the Year runners up. This a huge achievement and a reflection of all the hard work from everyone on the team, and especially our amazing teachers who are so passionate about delivering successful, rewarding and fun swimming lessons.
The Glovers team headed down to Birmingham on the 18th November to the Swim England Teaching and Education Awards ceremony which recognises the very best of the swimming workforce in England.
The evening kicked off with an introduction by CEO of Swim England Jane Nickerson, followed by a Q&A with European and Commonwealth games medallist Freya Anderson and World Championship gold medallist Luke Greenbank. It was intriguing to learn about how both swimmers started out on their swimming journey as youngsters and how their early positive experience in swimming lessons has helped them to follow the path to competitive swimming at the highest level. Creating a positive, fun learning environment for all of our swimmers is something we’ve always focused on. It’s how we ensure they continue to enjoy swimming for years to come.
Top two swim schools
The awards were then announced for various categories including Swimming Teacher of the Year, Tutor of the Year, and Training Provider of the Year. All the nominees were remarkable people whose hard work is making a big, positive difference to the swimming industry. We certainly felt honoured to share the experience with these people on a memorable night.
Congratulations to Aqua Aims who were the winners of the Swim School of the Year award. We had the pleasure of meeting owners Carol and Brad who were both lovely people and thoroughly deserving of the prize. Although we didn’t win on the night, it was no shame in being runners up to these guys who have done some fantastic things with their swim school.
Success for friends of Glover’s
A big well done to Carolyn Dawe who took the Tutor of the Year award. Carolyn is a friend of Glover’s who helped Jess achieve her level 2 qualification. It’s fair to say Carolyn had a really positive impact on developing Jess into the fantastic teacher she is today.
Well done also to Alex Barrett who was nominated for the Trainee Tutor of the Year and delivered a staff training workshop at Glover’s earlier in the year.
Not only was our swim school the national runner up; we also had our teacher Georgia Barton nominated in the top 30 in the country. Anyone who knows Georgia or has their child taught by her will know she is more than deserving of the nomination – she is one of our longest standing teachers and absolutely loves what she does. Her standards of teaching are incredibly high and – most importantly - all the kids love her. Well done Georgia! We are lucky (and very proud) to have you.
It’s fair to say that we all had a great night and a great year. To be one of the UK’s top two swim schools is something we are all incredibly proud. I’d like to thank the whole team whose togetherness and understanding of what we aim to deliver at Glover’s is the reason we have got to where we are. I’d also like to thank our customers past and present – because we wouldn’t be here without you.
Of course, we know that you can never stand still. So in 2020 we will be striving to improve our standards yet again and we’ve got some exciting developments planned. More on those soon…
Top row (Left to Right): Liam, Jake, Kat, Diane, Paula, Susan, Ebony. Bottom row (Left to Right): Meg, Mel, Evie, Katie, Jess, Tom, Martin.
(Sorry it’s been a while!)
Readers, I am so sorry it’s been so long since I last posted a blog, I know some of you have been waiting! A lot has happened since my last blog so grab yourself a cupper and I hope you make it to the end of this piece.
Edie is now nearly 9 months old and has turned into a little girl, in what seems like, over night! When people say “they grow up so quick” I didn’t believe them but I feel as if life is whizzing past us at lightning speed!
Swimming lessons are going awesome. Edie is loving her lessons, we can now submerge, hold on and kick on command and just to link back to my previous post, we have had a poo during a lesson! The disposable nappy and neoprene happy held us together! PHEW!
Being Mum
I’m going to steer a little away from talking about swimming lessons with this blog post because I’m feeling reflective about my journey as a Mum. I met someone else struggling this week and it made me stop to think, things like this are unspoken about because everyone feels like they are the only one. So, I hope this helps someone else in the same or a similar position.
Edie aged 2/3 months was a crying, cluster feeding, non-sleeping, pooing machine who would only settle for me (sometimes my Mum) and it was intense. I must say that age was the hardest for me, probably contributing to why there haven’t been any blog posts since (I was kidding myself thinking I would have the time and energy to sit down and write a blog every 4 weeks)!
Fast forward a couple of months of going backwards and forwards with my Health Visitor (who is AMAZING!). We decided talking therapies (AKA counselling) might be worth a try. So off I went, pretty much weekly, and there we discovered I had so many untouched issues contributing to why I was feeling the way I was. Having a baby is a massive life changing event, and on top of other things you already have going on, it’s enough to make your mind explode, and that’s exactly what happened. I lost the “old Jess”. Despite feeling tired and deflated, I was lucky enough to be able to pick myself up and get out of the house on most days and do a good job (if I do say so myself) of caring for Edie.
Finding ‘normal’
So the above explains the beginning, and after a rollercoaster of emotions I started the process of finding the “new Jess”. The first step was going back to work! Yep, I went back to work 1 day a week when Edie was less than 6 months old! Everyone around me kept saying “I couldn’t imagine anything worse” or “I don’t want to go back to work at all” – meanwhile I was SPRINTING in! It gave me that bit of normality that I craved. Don’t get me wrong, I could talk about Edie and everyone else’s baby for hours on end but I don’t think, without that bit of normality, I could have sung the “Wiggly worm” song, one – more – time or spoke about how many times everyone was up the night before (I could tell by the bags under most of our eyes anyway)!
In January I started back at work 3 days a week and since, I feel so much more content. I feel that I appreciate my time with Edie even more than before, I manage her on her bad days easier, I am more organised at home and I have embarked on a fitness journey with my lovely PT Vanessa (I have also stepped into a gym alongside my PT’s, which a month ago, I probably wouldn’t have had any confidence to do). The back fat over the top of my costume, that’s currently a work in progress!
The moral of my story is: don’t be too hard on yourself, because 9/10 mums are feeling exactly the same as you. I thought I was alone, going INSANE even. But, I have been lucky to have two really good friends with babies very similar ages, who have been an amazing support to me, whether they know it or not! (Shout out to Joanne and Hannah, thank you girls, you made me feel “normal” even on the worst of days)! But if you aren’t in that position, get on to your health visitor (because they have tons of contacts) or get yourself out to some groups and before you know it, it’ll become habit and routine.
I hope you have enjoyed/found useful my second posting, and now I’m back at work, they are going to be coming more often! I promise! My blog posts are going to start covering various topics, so what do you want me to cover? (Send me a DM on Facebook: Glover’s Swim School). Don’t fret though, Edie’s swimming progress and our home life will be touched on often. Jess x
Edie and Mummy
Edie enjoying her Baby Sensory Chorley class.