Widow Gill gets insomnia help (From Droitwich Advertiser)

Widow Gill gets insomnia help

4:32pm Monday 28th September 2009 in News

WHEN Gill Batchelor lost her husband in 2003, she also lost her ability to sleep.

The grief and stress that 73-year-old Spa resident Gill suffered following his death caused her to have insomnia and so countless sleepless nights.

However, just as she was running out of ideas to help with her problem she decided to take the advice of a guest speaker at her Women’s Institute group.

What she found was help close to home and from someone who could relate to her troubles.

Gill booked a series of treatments with Jayne Sheen, stone therapist and founder of Droitwich-based business Stone Me, who combines organic oil massage treatments with resting hot and cold healing stones on a patient’s body.

“When I heard Jayne talk at the WI meeting, I didn’t think her treatments were for me. But seeing 4am come round for most nights since 2003, I asked if she could help my insomnia,” said Gill.

“I must admit that my first treatment of six seemed a little strange – like nothing I had ever experienced before. Despite my strong will power, Jayne was able to quickly relax me with gentle meditation, her calming voice, massage and use of the stones.

“Mind you, when I described the treatment to family and friends, I think they all thought I had gone quite mad. But that didn’t matter, since I felt the benefit straight away.

“Not only do I now sleep normally, I also feel generally better in myself and more able to face the future. I suppose that without sleep I didn’t have the energy to make sense of things before,” she said.

It was Jayne’s own experience of bereavement and related insomnia that led her down a new career path to become a holistic therapist.

The career turning point came when she found her mum in a diabetic coma. When subsequent hospitalisation also revealed that she had cancer, the doting daughter took long-term leave from her job to nurse mum to the day she died.

“After that, I didn’t know which way to turn. I couldn’t make sense of mum’s death and couldn’t sleep. Then during a chance visit to Tewkesbury with a friend, I was drawn to a book about stone therapy – I bought it and couldn’t put the thing down,” said Jayne.

As well as helping Spa resident Gill over her sleep problem Jayne also volunteers her service to St Richard’s Hospice and the Noah’s Ark Trust to support bereaved youngsters.