Miranda, when I was in a similar situation, I found I had made faster progress than was anticipated, largely because I practiced what I learned between sessions. When it came time to move on, I had a similar experience to what Matodon described.

I found very good people were available to me, even if their offices were in old public buildings that showed a lot of wear and tear. The people were good. The buildings didn't matter.

Interestingly, I was introduced to new techniques. At first, I wanted to resist. I wanted to continue doing exactly what I had been doing. But as soon as I stopped resisting, I found the different approach opened up some new doors of understanding and I am glad it worked out the way it did.