Blog | Categories | Coping strategies

A Letter To My Mugger

By Bay Whitaker

An exercise sometimes used in counselling is “The Unsent Letter”.  Wrting such a letter can help when something has happened that feels unfinished or...

A Reason to Run

By Gill Wier

Last week I watched the BBC documentary “Mind Over Marathon”. To test how effective exercise is in improving mental health, 10 people who have mental...

Mothering your inner child

By Gill Wier

At this time of year I often pause to remember those who find Mother’s Day hard.  While adverts encourage us to buy cards and make meals for our mums...

Our Top Tips for Reducing Stress this Christmas

By Gill Wier

Are you looking forward to a long break from work, time with extended family, gift giving and festive food?  Even for those of us who love Christmas i...

Just Ask: A 6-Step Method from Anger to Change

By Bay Whitaker

When in conflict with my loved ones, the things that often rile me the most are the behaviours that happen over and over again.  And like so many peop...

Managing strong emotions

By Gill Wier

Emotions are a universal human experience and they serve a useful function by indicating what is important to us and what we need to do to stay safe a...

Cultivating Gratitude

By Gill Wier

Pause for a moment and think back over your day so far….for which moment are you most grateful?  What difference would it make if you were able to...

Stuck at the Crossroads

By Gill Wier

Are you facing a difficult decision right now?  Perhaps you feel stuck in a job you don’t like and something is stopping you from taking the step of l...

Turning Conflict into Communication

By Sarah Saatzer

There are many things we are not taught at school or by our parents or the people around us. The trouble is that this can give us an unconscious or co...

The Benefits of Therapeutic Writing

By Gill Wier

“Have you tried writing it down? This is a question that I often ask clients, particularly when they are experiencing a complex range of thoughts a...

Sorry seems to be the easiest word

By Bay Whitaker

Are you someone who says ‘sorry’ a lot, even when it isn’t your fault? In our everyday lives we frequently find ourselves in minor misunderstanding...

What is mindfulness?

By Gill Wier

The theme for this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week (May 11th – 17th 2015) is Mindfulness.  Gill Wier explains what mindfulness is and how it can h...

Compulsive Overeating: The First 3 Steps To Recovery

By Gill Wier

This post was contributed by Naomi Nygaard who specialises in working with eating issues and addiction. As a therapist, I specialise in helping peo...

Book Review - Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig

By Gill Wier

I have just got round to reading Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig.  Published in 2015, it tells the story of his mental health breakdown aged 24 and...

How to cope with Election Anxiety

By Gill Wier

I don’t know about you but I’m finding my anxiety levels rising and negative thoughts running through my mind as we approach the general election this...

Adapting to the New Scenario - COVID 19

By Gill Wier

When I wrote a blog post about “what gives me hope” a few weeks ago I had no idea that my ability to hope was about to be so deeply challenged by the...

Quality Time, Alone Time

By Sarah Saatzer

In these unprecedented times, these very different times; we are all in different circumstances and yet most of us are experiencing immense change. So...

Perseverance

By Gill Wier

So….it looks like this journey is going to take longer than we initially thought.  When we first went into lockdown at the end of March we had to quic...

Do it Badly

By Gill Wier

So, it’s the middle of January, in the middle of a pandemic - it’s not an easy time to make and keep New Year’s resolutions so I wanted to share what...

Let's talk about climate change

By Gill Wier

A few weeks ago during the COP26 conference, I watched a Panorama documentary about how extreme weather conditions are impacting people in different p...

To The Rescue

By Bay Whitaker

Are you someone who finds it difficult to see a colleague struggle with a task?  Do you often find yourself with a list of little extra jobs you’ve un...

Long Covid Summer

By Bay Whitaker

Nick Pearson from Sheffield Occupational Health Advisory Service writes about how Long Covid is affecting employees, and what to do about it. Hands...

On Guilt: Fact, Feeling or Both?

By Bay Whitaker

Guilt is a state that can be incredibly destructive to people.  And our clients often say that they're deepy troubled by feeling guilty. It can...

Low-Cost Counselling: supporting individuals on low income, couples on low income and NHS staff through tailored counselling sessions

By Bay Whitaker

It is estimated that 1 in 4 people will experience at least one diagnosable mental health problem in their life, whilst 1 in 6 people report experienc...

Garden Therapy: Growing Garlic

By Taz Pasha

Gardening is a helpful tool to help with mental health as well as keeping us physically moving.  This is important for older adults, as we become less...

Three Tips to help break your social media addiction

By Bay Whitaker

It was announced this month that the Royal College of Psychiatrists is calling for research into the effects of social media on mental health of young...

Matt Zarb-Cousin discusses Support for Problem Gamblers

By Bay Whitaker

Matt Zarb-Cousin is an activist, entrepreneur and recovering gambling addict.  While still in his 20s he successfully campaigned to have the legal max...

Working With Shadow

By Bay Whitaker

You have never murdered anybody, and you never will.  But you have wanted to.  Maybe you’ve fantasised about it or joked about it.  Maybe you’ve dream...

Dealing with Anxiety

By Erin Loughery

In the UK, anxiety is one of the most common mental health disorders, with recent statistics stating that over 8 million people are experiencing an an...

Best Summer Reads 1: Non-Fiction

By Bay Whitaker

The summer holidays often provide us with the time to enjoy a good read, so we asked our counsellors to recommend books that are both enjoyable and th...

Executive Dysfunction - Why Sometimes You Just Can’t!

By Alistair Thain

Ever get that feeling when you want to be doing something, or maybe even should to be doing something, and for whatever reason you just can't? You...

The Comfort of Food

By Bay Whitaker

The Comfort of Food   These cold early spring days, I've been craving mashed potato!  I’m reminded of the important comforting properties of...

Self Harm and All of Us

By Gill Wier

Guest blogger and counsellor Annabel Turner invites us to reflect on the spectrum of self harm behaviours which affect us all to some extent and offer...