Former journalist Clare Peacock is building a successful business trying to help others deal with the kind of problems that dramatically dashed her hopes in life many years ago.

She has developed a regular client base of 30 for her business, which she launched almost three years ago under the name of Feel Good EFT.

Initially for sufferers of chronic fatigue syndrome, Ms Peacock now also sees people who suffer from stress and anxiety.

She runs sessions at West Middlesex Hospital, Isleworth, and helps clients who cannot travel via Skype and on the telephone.

“The business overheads are low. All I needed was a room and a quiet and relaxed atmosphere,” said the 43-year-old of Aldbourne Road, Shepherd’s Bush.

Her mission follows her own experience of chronic fatigue syndrome (myalgic encephalomyelitis) which forced her to quit her new and highly-prized job at the BBC in Shepherd’s Bush, 17 years ago.

The debilitating fatigue and pain from the effect on her nervous system left her with no choice but to return to live with her parents in Sussex.

She was unable to lead a normal life for about 18 months, but then entered what she now sees as a recovery period of about four years.

During that time she returned to work teaching English as a foreign language in London but then decided to travel.

She was only two months into her tour before she suffered a relapse.

“I had planned to go to India first but two months into my tour and I started to feel very ill,” she said. “Initially I thought it was Delhi belly, but it wasn’t.

“I got myself home and spent the next eight months in bed. It felt as if my body had been poisoned.

“Then I hit a glass ceiling when I wasn’t active and I wasn’t able to work, and it lasted for eight years.

“The prognosis for someone who has ME for two years is that they won’t recover.

“I didn’t believe that, I wasn’t going to give up.”

Ms Peackock tried many therapies over the years, at considerable expense, but as she approached her 40th birthday she learned of Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).

She says the therapy provides relief from pain and other effects of unresolved emotional issues by matching psychology with a derivation of acupuncture which stimulates the energy meridian points on a person’s body, but rather than use needles, these points are tapped with fingertips.

She attended workshops in EFT at the Optimum Health Clinic in London, which had been established by other ME sufferers, and was impressed by the results.

She recalls: “There I was beginning to think I could work again and be normal.

“Then I realised that this was what I wanted to do – to enable people to empower themselves and get better.”

Ms Peackock is now a qualified Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner and hypnotherapist, accredited by The Association of NLP.

Feel Good EFT began with about 10 regular clients who would see her every couple of weeks as well as a few one-off clients.

Ms Peacock said: “Obviously there are quiet months and better months, but I would love to be able to expand and take on someone else. I’ll have to wait to see how the business grows, but I’m happy with the way it has gone so far.”

Ms Peacock charges £50 for an hour’s consultation and more information is on www.feelgoodeft.co.uk