Starting couple counselling can feel both daunting and anxiety provoking, especially if it something you have not previously undertaken. Knowing up-front what to expect can reduce some of the anxiety and enable you to focus on what you actually want to get from your sessions.Your counsellor or … [Read more...]
How to prepare for couples counselling
So you have taken the difficult step to go to couple counselling - what do you do now?Obviously there are a lot of variables when it comes to couples’ attending counselling together. Some couples are both on the same page and have a common goal, albeit they are struggling to reach that goal, … [Read more...]
Why is Mental Health Important?
Mental Health has become a hot topic in the last few years. We often hear about it in the media, and because of more public awareness about mental health issues, more employers are adopting mental health policies and offering employees more support. Whilst mental health used to be seen as something … [Read more...]
What Can Couples Counselling Help With?
Couples Counselling or Couples Therapy can help the couple communicate better, look at past influences on present behaviour and help the individuals within the couple understand themselves and their partner better. Depending on approach to couples therapy, the therapist will either work with the … [Read more...]
How to get a Mental Health Diagnosis
The term ‘mental health’ is pretty broad and encompasses emotional and psychological health.When people talk about mental health they are often referring to symptoms such as depression or anxiety but rarely do they mean psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, for example. Therefore, the … [Read more...]
What is Psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is a method of treating mental health issues through psychological, rather than medical means.Known as ‘the talking cure’ a psychotherapist’s role is to work with patients or clients, generally on a minimum of a weekly basis, over a period of months or years. The work takes place … [Read more...]
A New Psychotherapy Group
Starting a new psychotherapy group always gives me a sense of excitement. Until everyone is in the room together you never quite know what’s going to happen. And of course, that’s just the beginning.Growing a groupIn group analysis we often talk about ‘growing’ a group. It’s a useful way to … [Read more...]
How to Improve Mental Health
Mental health is constantly in the news and not a day goes by without an article, blog post or news piece on the topic.The great contradiction is that whilst we know more about mental health now and how to manage it, the busy, chaotic and plugged-in world we live in does little to help our … [Read more...]
How do I find the right Psychotherapist?
Finding a psychotherapist can feel like a daunting task. For starters, the difference between a counsellor and psychotherapist may not immediately be apparent. Then there are the different modalities, or approaches to therapy. And lastly, there are the different professional bodies to make sense … [Read more...]
What makes us choose our Career Paths?
In both coaching and psychotherapy I am always fascinated by the reasons people choose certain career paths or lines of work. It is also interesting to see how career paths develop and change because of personal choices and how people’s personalities interact within organisations and changes in the … [Read more...]
Making Sense of our Multiple Selves
How many people are you? Personally, I know I’m quite a few and always will be.Some years ago at a conference on ways of treating trauma a speaker was challenged from the audience to define what ‘mental health’ was. She paused for a moment and then replied that a mentally healthy person was … [Read more...]
Why do people get the birthday blues?
Birthdays are generally depicted in the media as happy events that should be celebrated. However, for no small number of people birthdays can be complicated and evoke difficult feelings such as sadness, listlessness and even feelings of depression. Why is this?The ‘birthday blues’ is a term used … [Read more...]
Antidotes to Coercive, Controlling and Narcissistic Behaviour
There have been many more articles written on Narcissism in recent times, as it seems to be the age we are living in.Narcissistic political, organisational, and religious leaders who lack accountability, manipulate information, and deny any wrongdoing has become a normal phenomenon across the … [Read more...]
Is Happiness the Opposite of Depression?
It's not a secret that most people presenting for therapy come with symptoms of depression or anxiety and in many cases both - more about that later.And it is also not uncommon for people unfamiliar with psychotherapy to simply want to be ‘happier’. After all, don’t we all on some level wish to … [Read more...]
The Importance of Generosity and Forgiveness in a Hostile World
As human beings we have evolved to connect. However sophisticated we have become over time though, our capacities for clear communication are enduringly mired in complication. Our inclinations are tilted toward a negativity bias whereby, when in doubt we will tend to assume the worst of an(other)s … [Read more...]