One very notable team took to the stage at the Abertay University Graduation Ceremony on Friday (28th November) in the shape of Mhairi Thurston and her guide dog Wanda, who together collected an MSc in Counselling.
Nine years ago, teacher and mother of three, Mhairi, was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, an incurable eye condition resulting in blindness.
Mhairi, who lives in Broughty Ferry said: “I was absolutely devastated. Within a year of my diagnosis, I had stopped working, stopped driving and was no longer going out. I sank into depression and struggled to cope with my three young children. Life felt as black as it could be.”
Things began to change for Mhairi when she got her guide dog Wanda, a golden Labrador retriever “Wanda literally transformed my life. I began to get my confidence back. I started going out again and I enrolled for a Post Graduate Certificate in Counselling Skills at University of Abertay, Dundee.
“I enjoyed doing the Certificate so much that I went on to do a Diploma in Counselling which in turn led on to the Masters which I have recently completed. Wanda was with me every step of the way.
For her research thesis, Mhairi investigated the emotional impact of sight loss and the counselling experiences and needs of blind and partially sighted adults. She hopes that they will help inform future policy and practice regarding the emotional needs of visually impaired people.
Mhairi presented the results of her research at the COSCA Counselling Research Conference in Stirling last week and was keynote speaker at the RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) Eye Care Best Practice Conference in October.
Professor John McLeod, Programme Tutor for Counselling at Abertay said: "It has been a pleasure to work with Mhairi over the last three years. She has developed exceptional counselling and research skills, and hopefully will be able to use these to improve the lives of visually impaired people in future".
Mhairi had to get to grips with a lot of new technology to cope with the demands of the course, she said: “I never thought I would be capable of such an achievement. This is part of the process of getting back to normal life after going blind. I am immensely grateful to all those who helped make it happen, particularly my husband, family, friends and tutors, whose love, support and belief in me kept me going through the difficult times ….and of course there will be an extra special treat for Wanda, without whom all this would not have been possible!”
Wanda, who was trained in Forfar, is no stranger to being in the limelight, having been voted Britain’s Guide Dog of the Year in 2004 and she has featured in numerous Guide Dogs for the Blind campaigns.
“If I were to give advice to anyone in a similar position to myself, it would be to believe that anything is possible, even when things seem really hopeless. I would never have believed during the dark days following my diagnosis that I would ever be collecting an MSc in Counselling. I was certainly quite an emotional day.” said Mhairi.
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