The Speakmans filmed in Rochdale

Date published: 16 July 2014

The episode of The Speakmans that aired on ITV this afternoon (Wednesday 16 July) was filmed in Rochdale with the help of Rochdale based professionals.

In today’s episode, Littleborough based therapists Nik and Eva Speakman met with Danielle Cock from Cornwall. Danielle suffers from Trichotillomania, which means that she has a compulsion to pull her hair out.

As a result of pulling out her hair, Danielle had several bald patches which left her with a serious lack of confidence.

During the show, Nik and Eva discovered that Danielle was badly bullied at school and as a result, began to pull her hair out.

Danielle said: “I went on the show because I had suffered from Trichotillomania for 18 years and couldn’t handle it any more. I didn’t have a life and I had become a hermit and wasn’t doing anything so I wanted to try and change that.”

During the show, Nik and Eva sat with Danielle in therapy to help her overcome her compulsion and met with her family who made an emotional plea to try and help Danielle overcome her condition.

Danielle said: “The process of making the show was very daunting but Nik and Eva were very professional and really kept me at ease. They kept me informed of everything as I didn’t really know what to expect.”

The therapy used on the show is called Schema Conditioning Psychotherapy and was developed by the Speakmans.

Eva Speakman said: “Danielle was an absolute delight to work with. She was brilliant. She will be a huge help to people who have Trichotillomania because she will be showing people that things can change. There are lots of people out there who have this condition so hopefully we are raising awareness about it as well.”

After receiving therapy and finding the root cause of the condition, Danielle was transformed and was given a professional makeover and photo shoot to help build back her confidence.

Danielle relaxes into her photo shoot

Danielle said: “The makeover really helped me get my confidence back. I just thought I was going to talk about my Trichotillomania but to have that done as well was great. Before the makeover I felt ugly and very unconfident but now I have had it done I have really found my confidence again. I never used to go out and now I have my social life back.”

The makeover and photo shoot took place at Jamilla Paul’s hair and beauty salon on Nelson Street in Rochdale Town Centre. A make up artist from the salon did Danielle’s make up and a specialist hair stylist from Liverpool came along to help transform Danielle’s hair.

Jamilla Paul said: “It was brilliant to be able to help out with the show. They utilised the building because we do everything here so they were able to do the hair, the make up and the photo shoot all in one building.

"We did a whole series here last year so it was nice to have the cameras back in the building.

"I have known Nik and Eva for a long time so it was nice to be able to work with them again.”

Eva added: “It was great to be filming in Rochdale. We filmed a lot of the mediation and things in our home and then we would go out to places.

"We loved using Jamilla’s salon and we have known her for a number of years so it was nice to work with her again.”

Speaking about the photo shoot, Danielle said: “The photo shoot was a bit scary to start with because there were lots of people watching. At first I found it a bit daunting to pose and things but Malcolm was brilliant, he really kept me at ease and kept me relaxed throughout the whole thing.”

Danielle with son, Ethan, mum Jillian, and dad, Nigel
 

After filming the show, Danielle has seen a positive change to her life. She is now more social and is going out more and feeling more confident.

She said: “I think that by doing this I have shown other people with Trichotillomania that there is hope and that there will be that one day where things can change.

"There is no cure for Trichotillomania but there are drugs which I have tried but they didn’t work so I don’t know what Nik and Eva did but it has worked and I am very grateful for that.”

Danielle with her son, Ethan, mum, Jillian, dad, Nigel and Nik and Eva Speakman
 

Eva added: “The response to the show has been unbelievable. We have been inundated with messages from people and we have had such a positive response.”

The series, which began on ITV on 14 July 2014, airs weekday afternoons from 2.00pm for four weeks.

Anyone wishing to contact Nik and Eva can do so via http://www.speakman.tv/ or via Twitter @The_Speakmans

Danielle before her treatment and make over (Photo: © ITV)