The most searched-for term on the Counselling Directory website at the moment is ‘anxiety’. This is understandable, as it feels like more and more people are suffering with intense levels of worry. Anxiety is the feeling of unease in the face of nothingness. The feeling often comes about because of things outside of my control: […]
Changing Our Relationship with Anxiety Read More »
Are we ever truly alone? Loneliness More people are spending Christmas alone in the UK, whether by choice or not. According to the Campaign to End Loneliness approximately 7.1% of people in Great Britain experienced chronic loneliness in 2022. This is up from 6% in 2020. Loneliness is not a ‘mental health’ problem in itself
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Why worry? Because we’re human On Anxiety and Counselling I have been thinking about themes for these blog posts and realised that highlighting some emotions or experiences in relation to therapy might be helpful. Anxiety, anger, grief and loneliness for example. As a therapist I have particular knowledge of anxiety, and as a human I
Why Worry? On Anxiety and Counselling Read More »
I turned 40 in September, which feels like a significant milestone. How do I make sense of this? What does this mean? I think about starting University in 2004, 20 years ago, which is exactly half my life ago. 2004 doesn’t feel that long ago. I think about my favourite albums or films that came
Finding Meaning and Balance Read More »
I’m currently enjoying reading ‘The Discovery of Being’ by the late existential psychologist Rollo May. The focus of the book is what existentialism can teach us about ‘being’ human, drawing on the philosophers Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. What emerges for me is the concept of people as ‘beings’, and a reminder that ‘being’ is a verb.
Transforming Anxiety Read More »
David Bowie, one of my favourite musicians, who went through many ch-ch-ch-changes I’ve been thinking a lot about change recently, partly because of the recent change in government in the UK. The Labour party even made “change” their campaign slogan. How much real change we’ll see from them remains to be seen of course. I’m
Changes (turning to face the strange) Read More »
It’s been a while since I’ve added to this blog. I’ve had a couple of false starts where I’ve half written out my thoughts, but in speaking to my supervisor today I realise how much value there is in me re-engaging with writing. I know that regularly writing a blog can help with marketing, as
Writing and reflection (and doubt!) Read More »
We live in a capitalist world which emphasises the importance of winning. I believe this idea is tangled up with notions of masculinity and the patriarchy as a whole. But what does this do to us as individuals, and to our organisations? Is there value in losing, not by re-framing it as a step on
Capitalism is very efficient at eating resistance ideas and spitting them back at us, and the concept of self-care is no different. Self-care is now a multi-million-pound industry, where to care for yourself means spending money on pedicures, spa days, gym membership and so on. Exploited employees are encouraged to practice mindfulness breathing exercises on
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“There’s power in our struggle” – No Paradise, Santigold The seven largest oil firms made a profit of over £150 billion this year. It’s difficult for us to comprehend how large a number that is. Even defining a billion as one thousand million is still difficult to visualise. Meanwhile British customers are paying 96% more