Our organisation has only been able to exist because of the ferocious commitment of our  team members to helping those who are struggling and in trouble. It is this desire that built the organisation we are today and allowed us to lay the foundations of Counterweight as a team of volunteers. As such, we are joyed to hear that our efforts are making a difference in the lives of our clients and so want to share the feedback that makes it all worth it with you.  Here are some reviews by clients who we have helped.

Reviews 

Counterweight provided a listener, Jen, for me after I said I had gone months with disrupted sleep due to anxiety. My anxiety stems from speaking out against Woke culture in my upcoming documentary series, and it has been really helpful to have someone I can relate to who listens to and encourages me. It has helped keep me sane and knowing I’m on the right path. I really feel fortunate to have the support of Counterweight and its very existence gives me hope. I’m a documentary filmmaker, and my current series has been the most challenging for me, personally. I can’t thank Counterweight enough for the support.

-T, A documentary filmmaker.

I was confronted in my first round of interviews for an academic position in engineering with some diversity questioning that I found strange and incoherent. I contacted Counterweight for guidance in preparing for my second round of interviews. The response I received went beyond my expectations. Not only did I learn how to approach the issue positively and constructively, but the individual counselling and coaching I received from Helen helped me find common ground with my interviewers and create the impression that we were all on the same page without saying anything that goes against the principles of liberalism and universal humanism.

-Q, A liberal humanist migrant to a Western country from a Muslim country who was unfamiliar with and bewildered by CSJ.

I was introduced to Counterweight at a time when I felt like nobody could understand the problem I was facing. I had nobody to talk to, nobody to listen, and no one who could understand. When I was introduced to the Counterweight team, they really listened. They knew exactly what I was going through and they knew exactly how to help. Now, I feel like I’ve been heard.

-G, An African-American conservative concerned about CSJ ideology in schools.

I’m glad to be able to take the opportunity to thank Counterweight for helping me in my time of need.  I cannot emphasise enough how good it was to have not only a sympathetic ear but also someone who was willing to work very hard on my behalf in a practical way which yielded results.

I was at a very low ebb before contacting Counterweight and getting into unnecessary arguments and feeling extremely frustrated. However, writing down my thoughts as they asked removed a weight off me and I’ve been feeling better ever since. Thanks to Counterweight’s advice I now find it easier to debate without getting emotive which is great and I am also more confident engaging in confrontational issues at work, not just around CSJ issues but day to day running of <an emergency service>  and at incidents. So this improvement of my reasoning and communication skills is an unintended consequence so big thanks for that!

-J, A British emergency services personnel concerned that political ideologies were derailing their vital life-saving service.

I came to Counterweight for support with pushing back against the rising tide of racial policies affecting my workplace. It can be hard and lonely to feel like you are the only one standing up against such things in the office. Counterweight gave me support, information and strategies to not only help stop things but begin to push them backwards. It’s a long struggle but having a group of people who are willing to support you along the way makes things infinitely better. Thank you Counterweight, keep up the good work!

– C, A black British engineer feeling the burden of having to oppose CSJ approaches to anti-racism alone as most white colleagues were afraid to do so.

I reached out to Counterweight because my identity as a nonbinary person clashed with my increasing worries about the debate-stifling tendencies of my Critical Social Justice environment. The non-profit and activist movements I have dedicated my time and energy to for decades were starting to feel like very ineffective, unsafe places. They didn’t have my back as a journalist interested in truth and justice. Outside of Social Justice though, or so I was led to believe, nobody would respect me or take me seriously in my gender identity. I would be utterly alone. Fortunately, thanks to Counterweight, I now know that is not the case. The support I received was personal, empathic and went way beyond what I expected. Counterweight pointed me towards resources and contacts that are very valuable to me. I feel a weight has lifted and I have found I am not alone. I have found ways to think and talk about myself and about what I believe in a constructive way and have found community.

-A, a nonbinary media professional for nonprofit organisations.

I think what was most impactful was Counterweight’s advice that I am open about my religion/beliefs.

Saying specifically “I am a Hindu” did, I think, clarify and cut-off a lot of noise in the discussions with the organisation that was problematizing me.

I much appreciated the caseworker directly asking me about my beliefs at the beginning of our session.

Though I don’t think of myself in those terms (Hindu is not the word we’d use internally) but nonetheless it gets to the point. It enabled me to express why the atheistic, western Critical Social Justice ideology is incompatible with my beliefs and assert my right not to have to adopt it in contravention of my own belief system. And beyond simply being able to shield myself from it, I actually felt confident to be able to be in dialogue with them, and calmly and proactively outline what I felt was a better direction, and why. I had been losing sleep over this issue for weeks, and in the end I felt quite joyful. I left the final interaction with that organization feeling ‘clean’.

-A, an academic at an Indian university currently working in British industry.

I chose to contact Counterweight for support when the overreach of CSJ in my higher education settings threatened to prevent me from achieving my PhD.  I’d had enough of witnessing and experiencing abuses of power ranging from ideological bullying and reductionist racial categorizing to standard stock sexist discrimination obscured by gender newspeak. Counterweight gave me the support I needed to continue on towards the completion of a well-earned degree, without compromising my authenticity or my integrity.

-J, a liberal first-generation college student pursing a doctoral degree who is concerned about how the overreach of CSJ narratives impacts viewpoint diversity, civility, and sex-based discrimination protections in the academy.

The best thing about approaching Counterweight was the immediate sense that they understood the issues I was experiencing and whilst helping me with my approach to addressing these with my employer, they recognised the need to support me.

Counterweight arranged for me to have a one-on-one session with Jennifer Friend. She gave me space to talk through the issues affecting me, whilst interjecting with her own intuitive and helpful points of view. Jennifer had a really firm grasp of the topic and was able to fully relate to my experiences, whilst showing me some ways to better manage my feelings.

-T, male, 26 years old, a HR manager from the UK.

It just gives me more confidence going forward when I know that Helen and Counterweight are behind me.

– J, a low income employee raising objections to his organisation’s claim that it can’t raise salaries to a living wage but can spend thousands on CSJ training that also required him to affirm beliefs that contravened his Christian faith.