Monday - 5pm and Thursday - 10:15am - all fortnightly appointments
If booking for smoking/vaping cessation - this is only a one-off 1.5 - 2 hour session and so I may be able to fit appointments in for this at different times during the day to those listed above, so please get in touch to enquire about availability for these sessions
This week marks the first ever Relationships Awareness Week (20th-26th July) which seems quite pertinent in the current situation we find ourselves in regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has impacted on our world in so many different ways and things are not the same now as they were even just a few short months ago. Things will also continue to change going forward into months to come.
The ‘Man in the Arena’ quote by Theodore Roosevelt is one of my favourite quotes of all time as it relates to being vulnerable. The words of Roosevelt really resonate with me and I am privileged to see it in action day in day out in my work and my life generally.
Loneliness – feeling alone, without anyone special, no friends or company, feeling disconnected from others, feeling disconnected from life itself, being in a big crowd of people yet still feeling alone.
As I write this, we are currently experiencing the Covid-19 pandemic. However, there has been another epidemic hitting our nation for many years – ‘loneliness’.
8th June 2020 marks the beginning of Carers Week and the theme is 'Making Caring Visible'. This is an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring, to highlight the challenges unpaid carers face and recognise the contribution they make to families and communities throughout the UK. Carers Week can also enlighten others who don't think they are carers or have caring responsibility to realise that they do and access the support that they need.
Many individuals and organisations will be undertaking events (socially distanced of course), activities and sharing of information over the course of Carers Week to highlight just how important carers are to those they care for, the community they live in and the UK as a whole.
It’s that time of year again in the UK – Mental Health Awareness Week. The theme this year is kindness. Self-kindness in taking time to understanding ourselves is just as important as being kind to others.
On a recent counselling training course, I have been teaching a mental health module, where the students are required to watch a Ted Talk by Eleanor Longden (The Voices in My Head). At the same time, I was most of the way through reading a book called ‘Drop the Disorder’. All of this came together at the same time and has caused me to stop and think about what I am teaching my students about mental health and also how I am approaching this in my own practice with clients.
I was already very much aware about the importance of challenging the culture of imposing labels but re-watching Eleanor’s Ted Talk has caused me to really stop and think this through.
It's never a more relevant time than right now, during the current global pandemic situation, to be focused on family for so many different reasons.
On the positive side of things, some of us may be relishing spending more time with our families doing things together that we enjoy (in line with social distancing guidelines of course!), reconnecting, not being distracted by work and other chores and activities that can sometimes get in the way of good quality family time.
However, not all households will be experiencing this joy and togetherness and here are some reasons why: -
ANXIETY is really hitting people in the UK right now. I wanted to do a quick post to help understand why this is. It is really important to understand what anxiety is because once you do, that is the first step to working with it.
The body is designed to become anxious. It has been a survival mechanism ever since human beings walked the earth and is likely to be around for as long as human beings walk the earth. You won't be able to eradicate it because when in control of it, it is useful and you don't want it to go anywhere even if you think you do.