Client Corner: meet inspiring cancer counsellor, Lara Pennington
Our new Client Corner feature, aims to highlight the skills, businesses, achievements and values of some Castlefield clients - a wonderful community of like-minded people. In this inaugural Client Corner piece, Castlefield’s Olivia Bowen introduces Lara Pennington, an inspirational client who retrained as a counsellor then founded a specialist cancer counselling service following the death of her husband.
Lara Pennington has been a client of Castlefield for over ten years. Our first contact with Lara was when she contacted us for some ethical financial advice, and we subsequently helped to set up a number of protection policies and pensions for her and her husband, as they had recently bought their first home and had their two sons.
Tragically, Lara’s husband Chris passed away before he was 40. The protection policies Lara had set up enabled her to navigate the initial years of grieving, by providing a certain level of financial security. During this period, Lara was able to stop work and focus on the needs of her family, along with reflecting on her longer-term ambitions. She decided she would like to use her skills and experience to help others by retraining as a counsellor.
Following the completion of her studies, Lara launched https://www.counsellingforcancer.co.uk/ an organisation dedicated to helping people affected by cancer in the UK; the business is the culmination of years of life experience and formal studying.
She notes: “My motivation to support the emotional wellbeing of people affected by cancer is driven by my own personal experience. During the illness and subsequent death of my husband in 2015 I undertook 2 years counselling. I therefore have first-hand experience of its potential to help people cope, overcome and deal with the emotional fall out of cancer. Being a counsellor fits my own belief systems and enables me to be able to support and be alongside clients on their personal journeys.”
Life insurance and protection policies are often overlooked by self-advised clients, but this example demonstrates their importance. While the death of her husband was a tragic period for Lara and her family, I find her story particularly inspiring as she used this moment as a positive catalyst to help her define a new career for the benefit of others.