Bristol hairdresser helps clients who suffer from anxiety

"I got to a point in life where looking back, I'm lucky to still be here today," Ms Morey said

A woman who has suffered from panic attacks is using that experience to support others through her work as a hairdresser.

Nuala Morey, from Abbots Leigh, started suffering from extreme anxiety at the age of 19 and, the first time it happened, she thought she was dying.

Although Ms Morey still has anxiety 20 years later, she said she was now using that experience to help support others.

She said that "how scary it feels, there's always a way out".

'Stopped doing things'

Ms Morey said she developed anxiety despite "a lovely upbringing" and going to "a very good school".

She said: "Sadly, my dad passed away when I was 15 and that's when everything turned. I moved out of my family home and ended up living on my own.

"I had my first panic attack at work. It was one of the most frightening things I've ever experienced.

"After that, they just came one after the other. I couldn't stop it, it was out of control.

"I stopped going places, doing things, seeing people. You always think: 'If I go there, I could have a panic attack.'

"I got to a point in life where, looking back, I'm lucky to still be here today."

Coping techniques

Ms Morey added that, when it got really bad, she started learning everything she could about anxiety and how her body worked when she got panic attacks.

"It really helped," she said. "I don't let anything stop me now. I go abroad on my own, I do all sorts of things."

She runs a hair salon and said she had been passing on her coping techniques on to her clients.

"I seem to organically attract women into my studio who suffer from anxiety.

"I had this woman in recently who was a lecturer at university and she's had to leave her job. She's just completely not OK at the moment.

"Another lady wasn't able to leave her house for a year and, the first time she left, she came to see me.

"No matter how low you get or how scary it feels, there's always a way out."