A helpful way to understand distress is to treat it not as a personal failing, but as a sequence: a chain reaction you can learn to recognise earlier, rather than only making sense of it all afterwards - once you can see the sequence, you can start noticing where you are in it and how to potentially intervene.

Burnout is often talked about as if it were a personal failure. In practice, it is usually a collision between chronic pressure and a person who has learned to keep going long after their limits have been crossed.

When support feels irritating, even aggravating or worse, it may be protecting something tender.

I’ve sat with people whose lives have been narrowed by food — not simply by what they eat, but by what eating has come to mean . Some arrive with numbers and rules: calories, weigh-ins, rituals, the blunt logic of control. Others speak in a quieter register: exhaustion, shame, dread, a body that feels like an accusation, an appetite that feels like a moral failure. From the outside, it can look like a problem of discipline or appearance. From the inside, it is more often a pr

Avoiding phone calls will impact your personal and professional opportunities. Whether it's arranging an appointment, handling work-related

10 Ways to Reduce Social and Performance Anxiety

Social stories are an effective way for people to understand and navigate social situations. Here are specific examples of social

When threat systems take over, the mind and body prioritise survival over reflection, which can leave lasting effects on attention, meaning-making, and memory. Trauma is not defined only by the event itself, but by how the event is experienced : as overwhelming, threatening, and beyond one’s usual capacity to cope. For some people, this involves actual or perceived danger to life or bodily integrity; for others, it is the experience of intense helplessness, violation, or horr

Anger is a powerful emotion that can be triggered by a range of experiences, from minor frustrations to major life events. Often, when we feel angry, we are reacting to something that is happening in the present moment. However, the roots of our anger can often be found in unconscious processes developed over time through past experiences and interactions with others. Understanding these unconscious processes and addressing them in psychodynamic counselling can be an effectiv

Intrusive thoughts, which often underlie anxiety, have a historical purpose. In the early days of human evolution, these thoughts served as a protective mechanism, keeping individuals safe from harm.

I do my best to facilitate growth and positive change, but the client has to do the work and make the changes once a session has finished. It's not uncommon for people to assume a therapist is supposed to "fix" them. Doctors may be able to fix broken bones, but therapists can not "fix" an individual's mental state. They may be able to provide helpful tools in collaboration with a client in an environment that promotes healing and growth, but that only happens with independent

Contrary to a glib understanding of some French authors, hell can more often be a personal one than that found when in the company of others

Self-compassion is a way of viewing oneself under challenging times. It involves taking a kind, non-critical, and accepting stance...

Today is what matters; just getting through today. All you'll ever have to do is get through one day, and you've done that many times before

None of us can be summed up in one word in the same way that easy answers rarely solve complex problems.

One section of the entry requirements I was reading stood out. "You must have your own personal lived experience of mental health problems".

Having the best intentions when attempting to help someone, as many of you will have experienced, can be less than straightforward. . .