UKPT reviews – fake or genuine feedback?

I recently listened to a podcast, which discussed how trustworthy, or not, online reviews are. According to several consumer organisations, up to 1 in 3 may be fake. As the use of Artificial Intelligence tools becomes more commonplace, it may become even harder to tell genuine reviews from convincing fakes which are designed to mislead the reader.

Nevertheless genuine feedback can help us to make better informed decisions in all walks of life.

At the end of every UK Paruresis Trust workshop, we invite participants to give us their honest feedback about their experience. It's invaluable for us as an organisation, because it ensures that we are doing what we intend to do, that our efforts are paying off, and that we are on the right track. Good feedback tells our service users that we value their opinions (which we do), and that they matter to us (which they most definitely do). Hopefully it tells other people that they can trust us, and that our workshops are effective.

Here is a selection of feedback postings from our women's forum on the website www.ukpt.org.uk.

"I found the virtual workshop through UKPT a huge help! It is since taking part in the workshop that I have had so much success. The key is to relax and smile every time you go to the loo, even if you don't manage to go, still smile. fake it."

"I attended the virtual workshop today, and was very pleased with how it went. The support I received from Ann and Andrew was wonderful, and I was able to achieve far more than I expected. There was a lot of useful information shared, which I will be able to put to practical use. Thanks for all your help!"

"I attended a virtual workshop of UKPT's last weekend. The workshop leaders delivered the workshop well, and everyone seemed to feel at ease. I learnt many useful techniques that were immediately useful in helping with being able to urinate whilst feeling under pressure, as well as many techniques that I can incorporate into my recovery plan so I can continue to improve. It was extremely encouraging to hear the workshop leaders discuss the degree to which they have recovered; along with the improvements I noticed both during the workshop and afterwards, I now feel extremely optimistic about recovering from paruresis. I highly recommend anyone who is struggling with paruresis to sign up for a workshop as this can be an extremely distressing problem to live with, but through attending a workshop, you can learn techniques to recover."

"I am 17 years old and have just taken part in the virtual workshop. Paruresis has affected my life for the past 4 years, as I got older I have found it has gradually got worse and worse to the point where I found myself avoiding social situations. My mum found the UKPT and the workshops they held so I signed up for the virtual one. I am amazed by how much progress I made in just 1 day and I can now really see that I may be able to overcome this problem. All the workshop leaders were lovely and I felt very comfortable talking to them. I am excited to get out there and practice different toilet situations. Thank you so much for the help and I would really recommend these workshops, don't suffer in silence!"

"Virtual workshop……yes, go for it.

I have suffered from shy bladder/paruresis all my life. It has limited me in so many ways, socially, work, holidays etc. The first thing that came into my mind at the idea of going somewhere was not 'that sounds like fun' but 'how will I cope with weeing'. It has pre-occupied me and limited me almost every day. When I heard about UKPT and read other peoples stories similar to mine, I couldn't believe it. I had felt so alone with my problem, and now it seemed there was help.

I recently attended a virtual workshop and am amazed at how positive I now feel about doing something to help manage my paruresis. I was unsure initially but having read through the workbook beforehand which detailed what would be covered, plus the day's timetable and de-sensing preparation I felt ready to 'face my demons' and go with it.

Once the co-ordinators had introduced themselves I immediately felt more at ease. There was a lot to take in during the day but it served to give an overview of the problem, in order to understand the approach to changing it, and we all had the chance to talk about ourselves and how we are each affected. Many of the stories we shared were so familiar but reminded me again of just how big an impact paruresis has on each of us.

The actual desensitisation was carried out within each person's comfort zone with no pressure and the co-ordinators couldn't have been more sensitive and supportive.

By learning how to manage our anxiety and to rethink our whole approach to weeing, change becomes possible. It's an ongoing approach and we were given worksheets and suggestions on how to continue to reinforce what we'd learnt.

Since the workshop I have gone to a public toilet most days to put into practice what I've learnt, with a definite improvement though, having had it for so long I know that change takes time. I have also told a friend about it, something I had been really scared of doing. She had never heard of paruresis but was very understanding and totally non judgemental.

So, if anyone is unsure about attending a workshop, I'd say, 'go for it'."

You can be totally sure that if you read a review of UKPT's services on our website www.ukpt.org.uk it came from a real person using their actual words. All reviews will be anonymous unless the reviewer indicates that they would like their name to be used. We have never, and will never, make up reviews to suit our purposes.

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