Joey Baglietto, Former Client

“Me and my former partner had just split up and it was messy, heavy and a difficult time of my life. I had never ever gone to a lawyer for anything so for me it was all new and a big mountain to climb… I just couldn’t find how to approach it. It was all so difficult for me. Everything was black… I went to a cousin of mine and she advised me to approach Amber Turner...

As soon as I approached Amber I could see this is where I wanted to be and that she was the person that I wanted to help me through this … ordeal… it was like climbing Mount Everest without an oxygen bottle on my back. Amber was very sensitive and human with me from the first interview which was very emotional. She treated me like a person, like a friend from day one… not like a client. She gave me reassurances, she helped me to think positive and she made me feel strong and at the same time to open up without being scared to come out and if you have to cry just cry over it and if you want to say your thought in the moment and you would not say it to anyone else, just say because it is what you really wanted. Amber helped me a lot through the initial process when the ball has to start rolling. I remember coming out of my first interviews with her with a smile and feeling positive.

… Being a man is difficult because you don’t know how to open up to people and you don’t know how to talk to people. If you open up a lot and you talk about what your feelings are sometimes you think you are showing some weakness or that you are too fragile and you don’t want people to see that… I hate crying in front of people, hate showing my emotions. But yet again … I was able to tell Amber what my fears were about not having a home, going back to my brother’s to live, my relationship with my sons… mistakes that I had made in the past and how to confront and how to tackle them, how to address them. Getting to a route and staying that route without falling apart.

… Thank God I was going to a counsellor at the time. So what I would do is tell my counsellor what I was talking about with Amber and tell Amber what I was talking about with my counsellor… like a triangle, it was teamwork and I was held in the middle…

… At the end of the day I’ve managed to come out of my divorce quite well mentally which is the most important thing… I believe in karma and although I made mistakes in my past, now I try to be positive and try to be a good person and I think that a lot of that good will come back to me. A lot of it has come to me because of Amber’s relationship with me, her friendship with me and the way she treated me at that moment.

That ordeal became a process and that process became a journey and that journey became a way of life…and you have to say, well this happened to me like to a lot of people and it’s up to you, you want to make it easier or more difficult. Amber’s approach was very comfortable, informal and I am very happy for it. She approached my anger because sometimes I was very angry; both sides when you have a divorce are very angry with each other – I am no saint, the other side was also very angry… but with Amber - she addressed my anger, my questions, my fears. She’s a friend of mine now.

What I learned from Amber in this process is that in the same way I was helped by her, I have to help others. I’ve given advice to other people going through divorce, stress, anxiety or depression. A lot of this comes out in divorce. It’s not the other person, you are not blaming the other person, it is you - all your fears come out. It’s a triangle where fear goes to anxiety, anxiety goes to stress and stress goes to fear and it’s up to you to break that cycle with help, advice, counselling, mindfulness, it’s up to you. You have to start the ball rolling and then help will come to you.”

Client Testimonial provided during the GBC Television recording of the series 'Are You Awake?'