Transactional Analysis (TA) is a widely recognised form of modern counselling and psychotherapy, originally conceived by Eric Berne in the 1950’s and which is now used not only in therapy but also in education and organisational training and consultancy.It is a theory of personality, behaviour … [Read more...]
Why all therapists and mental health professionals need therapy now more than ever
I don’t know about you, but I have been riding the Covid-19 emotional roller coaster since March 2020 with very little roadmap, whilst trying to guide those who I work with like “the blind leading the blind”.I also see my own psychotherapist and supervisers in the exact same boat. They are … [Read more...]
Executive Function Skills (part 1) – What They Are And Why Some Children Struggle With Them.
Executive functions are the cognitive skills we use to control and regulate our thoughts, emotions and actions to achieve goals. These three main areas of executive function work together:Self-control/ inhibition – the ability to resist doing something distracting/ tempting in order to do … [Read more...]
Fear and hope in the time of Covid – part 2
I am writing a follow on from the wonderful blog written by Gerry Gilmartin back in August. 6 months on and here we are again, facing new Covid-related challenges with more restrictive measures in place, more infections and more deaths.The theme of Gerry’s blog revolves around fear and hope, and … [Read more...]
New Year’s Resolutions
In my last blog I wrote about goals for change and linking these to our values. When someone decides to come into therapy it is often because they would like to make changes and it can help to set goals as a means of knowing when these changes have been achieved.Given this is a time of year when … [Read more...]
What’s wrong with good advice?
Often, the people who engage in therapy with me will ask for advice, tips on managing anxiety, what to do about a relationship situation, how to manage a tricky situation at work. Sometimes someone might ask for general ‘life advice’. Of course, mostly what they want is some sort of reassurance and … [Read more...]
The Pandemic and the Emerging Mental Health Epidemic
There is a lot of talk about how Covid-19 and the resulting lockdown cycles are causing a mental health crisis in the UK. This blog aims to unpack and list some of the reasons why the response to the pandemic is also causing a mental health epidemic amongst us.This year has been very hard on … [Read more...]
Love and family
The family is our first social group. It is the crucible in which our passions are born and our capacities to love and to live are shaped – and mis-shaped. The family imbues its members with its own specific culture, habits and attitudes.As an organism it too is shaped by the cultural moment … [Read more...]
What is Schema Therapy?
Schema Therapy (ST) is a flexible and comprehensive approach to therapy that focuses on understanding you as a person. It provides a helpful framework for us to make sense of some of the difficulties you might be experiencing. These might be difficulties with how you feel, your thought patterns, … [Read more...]
Nietzsche and the body
Here I reflect, a little, on a few of Nietzsche’s words on and as the body. These reflections are not conclusive or comprehensive. The only agenda is inspired by Nietzsche, to perhaps stimulate the reader’s curiosity and desire to experiment and explore. Please do read my previous article - 'Why … [Read more...]
Five Top-Tips for Surviving Christmas – And one Extra Thanks to Covid-19
This blog is a re-post with some further reflections in it to account for not only Christmas being a challenging time, but that Christmas during pandemic may be a particularly challenging time. Original blog post from 25 December 2017:Christmas can be an emotionally challenging and difficult … [Read more...]
Holiday Blues in the time of Covid-19
This blog was originally posted in 2015 in the lead up to Christmas. As this Chistmas period is particularly challenging for so many due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I am reposting it with further thoughts on how you can get through this holiday period:This time of year can evoke a range of … [Read more...]
What shapes us?
We all have key figures in our lives, people who either held or hold great importance because of their positive impact on our professional and personal lives. They may have been people who we are either personally or professionally connected to, such as parents, siblings, friends, family members, or … [Read more...]
Groups for Mental Health
"What we cannot hold we cannot process, what we cannot process we cannot transform, what we cannot transform haunts us. It takes another mind to help us heal ours. It takes other minds and hearts to help us grow and re-grow the capacities we have to transform suffering." Joseph BobrowI would … [Read more...]
Making Changes
As well as working privately, I work within an NHS IAPT Service providing psychological therapy for depression and anxiety disorders and when a client comes into therapy, one of the first things we discuss is goals for treatment.What is it the client is hoping to change by the end of treatment? … [Read more...]
