BLOG

Where are you, in yourself, right now? Are you here, present in this moment? Or time travelling back to the past, into the future or distracting yourself ? Are you somewhere in yesterday, replaying a conversation or wondering what you should have said? Perhaps you are already in tomorrow, anticipating what might happen and trying to prepare for it. Sometimes we simply withdraw, these strategies can also involve numbing or distraction, we may reach for our phones, work, food

What stories are you telling yourself? What if some of the thoughts you have about yourself are not really yours? We all have an internal dialogue, a constant stream of thoughts, assumptions, memories and interpretations that can shape how we experience ourselves, other people and the world around us. Some thoughts may feel so familiar that we don't even notice them anymore. They can become part of the background noise of our lives, influencing what we expect, what we believe

What if our emotions are not something to get rid of, but something to listen to? What are emotions? Emotions are physiological survival responses that facilitate adaptive responses to environmental challenges. Becoming aware of and naming the core basic emotions of joy, sadness, anger and fear, without censoring or judging them, allows us to become more aware of what is happening within us. Their quality and volume, from intense to only slight, are all welcomed; they are a g

There are so many therapists out there. So many photographs, profiles and different ways of working. I often wonder what makes us pause at one person rather than another. For me, the photograph is part of that. I notice the face, the expression, the eyes. There is something about seeing another person that makes the profile feel a little more personal. But what am I actually seeing in a photograph? And how much of the person am I really seeing? It makes me think about photogr

There is something about stepping outside, into the natural world, that can change our relationship with ourselves and our environment. We are no longer separate from what is around us. We become part of something bigger, something living, changing and beyond our control. My experience of eco-therapy is one of gentle returning. As I step into relationship with the land, my nervous system begins to settle, held by something steady, rhythmic and alive. There is less urgency her

Therapy can mean different things to different people. For some, it might be a place to talk about something that is happening in their life right now. For others, it might be an opportunity to understand themselves more deeply, including their patterns, relationships, emotions and experiences that have shaped them. At its heart, I see therapy as a space where you don't have to have everything figured out. You don't need to arrive knowing exactly what is wrong or have the rig

“I am afraid of the unknown. Of what may happen.” Perhaps this is at the heart of anxiety for many of us. Not knowing what is going to happen, not being able to predict what comes next, and the mind trying to reach into the future to prepare us for something that hasn't happened yet. Anxiety can have us thinking about all the possibilities. We might overthink, rehearse conversations, imagine different outcomes or find ourselves caught in a constant loop of “what if?” And it d

Counselling and psychotherapy are often used interchangeably, and there is a lot of overlap between the two. Both can offer a space to talk, to be heard and to make sense of what you are experiencing. What matters most, I think, is finding an approach and a therapist that feels right for you. Counselling can sometimes focus more on a particular difficulty or something that is happening in your life now. It can give you space to explore what you are experiencing, understand it