May is National Share a Story Month. This years theme is Changing the world one book at a time. Have you ever thought about your life as a story? Maybe a thriller, a fairy tale, or a kids comic? It turns out this really is a thing, narrative therapy uses story telling to help you open up to your experiences, to find the words to describe the impact experiences have had on you, to work out your boundaries and to find the way forward that works for you. What Is Narrative Thera

Burnout is a thing, but how do we recognise when it is upon us, or where it has taken over? What is Burnout? Burnout can be caused by stress, but it isn't the same. Stress tends to be short lived reaction that although difficult, we can work with and work through. Burnout impacts your functioning, leaving you with a sense of detachment (from yourself and/or others), demotivation and hopelessness that there is no opportunity for your situation to change. It feels like there

Stress is a word we use in every conversation, it can refer to experiences from feeling stressed because we can't find our car keys in the morning and are going to be late al the way through to complex post traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD). What we find stressful, how we process it and the impact it has on our behaviours is different for each and every person. Reactive Stress Reactive or Acute stress is a reaction to an 'in the moment' or short term experience. It is whe

Internal family Systems is a great model to work with. It opens up emotions that have been locked away, allows us to approach them with curiosity and compassion and give the opportunity for us to heal difficult experiences from the past that are impacting our present. How does it work? At the heart of Internal Family Systems are a couple of key frameworks: the 8 C’s, the 6 F’s and the understanding of exile parts, protective parts and their relationship with each other and ou

I have had nearly 2 years in my current therapy room. I love the space and have welcomed many clients here, sharing experiences, memories, laughter and tears. So when the opportunity came up to take on a new space it was a tough decision for me. Do I stick with where I am comfortable, and put up with the elements that are out of my control about my counselling space, or do I take a risk, put myself into unknown territory and see what happens. This might all sound a bit dram

Shame is a word that we have an interesting relationship with. For a lot of people the word in itself is shameful to own – it had connections with guilt, embarrassment, failure. You may have grown up being told “you should be ashamed of yourself” or “isn’t it a shame that…”. In general, we are not taught about what shame actually is, why it is part of our human make up and how we can own it to set ourselves free. I really discovered the depth of the concept of shame when I re

Do you have the words to describe how you are feeling? In counselling sessions, I often speak with my clients about what they are feeling and/or where in their body they can sense these emotions. The tricky part of this is finding the right words to describe sensations or feelings. I use two main tools to help with this: 1. The emotion wheel I find this to be a great go to visual aid for expanding your emotions vocabulary. It can be used in a variety of ways, either simply to

I caught an article on Radio 5 live when I was going to bed the other night. The presenter brought together a group of strangers who connected through their experiences of baby loss. It was powerful radio. It was also inspiring as this is the opportunity I want people to have by coming together in the group I have created to talk about living with baby loss. When you have lost your little one through miscarriage, still birth or neonatal death, you can sometimes find yourself

I was introduced to letter writing when I was going through counselling myself. I resisted it. For three weeks, my counsellor would gently enquire “Have you written that letter?” and holding shame inside I would say no. Why didn’t I write it straight away? That is a hard question to answer. I struggled with the idea of writing down my thoughts. It made me feel stupid; I didn’t want to do something I was being told to do; I didn’t want to let go of the pain that was pulling me

As part of my counselling work, I often talk with clients about how communication is key to relationships. Developing effective...

Neurographic Art Therapy Is it possible to heal through doodling? In short, yes! Neurographic art therapy gives everyone – artistic or not - the opportunity to create something as simple or as complex as you like. It can take 5 minutes or 5 hours, allowing you to be in control of your creation. I stumbled across Neurographic art about a month ago and have been hooked ever since. Why? Because of its simplicity. At the heart of it is a piece of paper, a pen (fine liner or sharp

Are you stuck between being a parent and a carer? Is the pressure making you feel stressed? Depressed? Overwhelmed? Lost? You are not...

Did you know there are 5 love languages and that yours might be different from your partners? Find out what they are, how you find out what yours is and what your partners is and how you can use it to enhance, improve or change your relationship. What are the 5 love languages? 1. Acts of Service Do you feel really seen and loved when someone offers to help you out? Maybe someone makes you a cup of tea without asking, does the washing up or scrapes the ice from your car and cl

A pet can be a huge part of the family system, so when their life ends it can throw up lots of questions around how to deal with pet loss...

Hi, Thanks for coming to have a look around my page. I thought it might be a good idea to introduce myself :) I’m Laura, I live with my...