I’m writing this today (1st Feb) and thinking what a difficult month January is. It’s not the dark nights and wet days (although they don’t help) but the constant push and pull I feel within. The restlessness to do things coupled with the lack of desire to do anything other than hibernate and lie on […]
The workplace in August often takes on a different pace, slower days, and less deadlines before the ramping back up for Autumn. But summer can also create a sense of restlessness in contrast to the chilled holiday vibes many of us try and connect with, leaving work behind for a few days or weeks if […]
I am an avid reader and will happily devour series of detective novels, thrillers or chick lit. However, I often have that guilty voice on my shoulder telling me I should be reading more educational/work stuff. So, while procrastinating over picking up that work book, I googled the benefits of fiction reading (with some additional […]
We have hit the seasonal period. For many this is the best time of year, yet just as many dread the onslaught of sociability this season tends to demand. How do you survive with some energy intact? How do you keep energy up to attend everything you want to? There isn’t really any magic advice […]
I’m writing this with torrential rain running down the windows. September is such a mixed month of beauty, rain, sun, cold, warmth. It allows you to bundle up on the sofa with a hot drink and then sends you outside in flip flops. I love this month, it feels full of both possibility, forward planning […]
Music holds an incredible capacity to heal, soothe, and empower both mind and soul. When I’m listening to the radio, hearing one of my favourite songs can completely lift my mood, and likewise, a song that reminds me of sad times can have me crying in an instant. The mix of melodies, evocative lyrics, and […]
Counselling and maths may not seem like a perfect match but using concepts and logic from maths can provide useful tools to challenge our more emotional thought processes. Managing negative thoughts and challenging repeating patterns of behaviour is a common focus for clients and often a key challenge in therapy. In order to fully believe in […]
“Sleep, Creep, Leap” is a phrase that gardeners use to describe the growing stages of perennial plants. The first year it will sleep, getting its roots secure in the soil. The second year it will start to put on some growth, slowly adjusting to its conditions. In the third year, it will take off and start […]
Finding the right questions can be instrumental in finding out how we tick. Answering unexpected questions can often unlock doors of thought. In counselling, questions can help people to open up, to give a foundation for expressing their thoughts and feelings and help clarify and expand a thought. Using questions as prompts in writing for […]
‘We have to live our lives forwards but can only understand it backwards.’ Danish philosopher Kierkegaard Like many people I’ve kept a journal periodically throughout my life. I’ve kept them all, even those embarrassing teenage ones. I have reread many of them and found myself laughing, despairing and empathising at the outpouring of my […]
All of these books have had a major impact on the way I manage and feel about my own moods and difficult days. The connection with nature can be such an amazing tool to help us reflect, restore and regroup. Wintering by Katherine May I was a few pages into this book when I felt […]
My morning pages have become an ingrained part of my morning. My day is usually better having written my three pages of what is often a pile of incoherent words and bad spelling. In essence the morning pages are three A4 pages of ‘stream of consciousness’ writing – that is writing whatever is in your […]
The Shift List I’ve always been big on ‘to do’ lists but during lockdown I found myself just not wanting to do anything on any of my to do lists. I often talk to clients about the importance of taking one step at a time, doing small things that can help to make a difference […]
If you’re feeling more anxious than usual, coping with some life changes or even just feeling that you would like to find out more about possible techniques to help build future resilience and better emotional coping strategies, then our Online Core Shift Group may be a good option for you. We felt there was a […]
Our Online Shift groups launch this Autumn, and it has given me time to reflect on my own experience of group work. Groups are everywhere. I was born into a group. I grew up in a group. I was schooled in a group. I have worked for organisations. Some group experiences are more positive than […]
What is it? Online therapy is defined as therapy/counselling that is provided over the internet. Other terms for online therapy are teletherapy, cyber counselling and e-therapy. Key methods that we use include email, video calls and instant messaging. We sometimes mix methods too – for example, you may have a video session and then choose […]
Many of us have experienced the delights of the annual staff survey – focusing often on team working, communication, workloads and general satisfaction. There are often focus groups to further explore some of the issues raised in the surveys. However, one of the biggest life issues is rarely (if ever) discussed. What about death? What […]
In the midst of a brief Corona respite in August, The FT and The Week, ran an article titled ‘Why we Fail to prepare for disasters’. The author Tim Harford explored why, despite the predictability of many disasters, so many people (those in power as well as us mere mortals) fail to act. He explored […]
Why is it that we are so often unhinged by the unexpected? I know I’ve been guilty in the past of thinking that ‘things’ happen to other people. Of course that’s not true and in fact ‘things’ happen to you and people you know – good things, bad things, unexpected things. Things don’t always go […]
As you get older you get more aware and panicky about time going too quickly –at least I do. And with the ever diminishing time I begin to regret all the time I wished away, wishing it was 5pm, Friday night, summer, the next holiday…great long swathes of time wished away. I heard a radio […]
We are living in anxious political and environmental times and this is having a major impact on our mental health, so much so that there are ‘new’ anxiety disorders being created particularly around climate change and ‘Eco anxiety’. In June 2019 Therapy Today printed an extended transcript of an interview that was conducted by BBC […]
