In this blog post I explore the best ways to stop ourselves from spiralling when events or people trigger a trauma-based stress response. The Five Anchors come from Resmaa Menakem’s (highly recommended) book “My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialised Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies" and are themselves based on the work of Dr David Schnarch.

Content Warning – this blog contains references to racism, ableism, suicide, rape, misogyny, queer, fat and transphobia.

In this blog post I’ll explore Sonya Renee Taylor’s wonderful book “The Body Is Not An Apology” along with the ways that body terrorism shows up, and how we can resist it using radical self-love.

In this blog post I discuss death anxiety, what it is, and how therapy can help us to process the fact of death itself.

Trigger warning: contains discussions about death but no details of death as a process.

In this blog post I explore what Minority Stress is, why it’s important to be aware of it and how it might be impacting on your mental health.

In this blog article we delve into some of the ways the brain and nervous system are changed for the better via psychotherapy. We also explore what’s going on for us in the room when we work with a psychotherapist.

Everyone gets angry including your therapist: “if you’re not pissed off you’re not paying attention” as the direct action news-sheet Schnews used to put it back in the day. And let’s face it, there’s a lot to be angry about, whether that’s on a global scale or just in the day-to-day annoyances of keeping the wheels on the trolley of life. In this blog article I’ll explore what anger is, what it might be telling you, and how to harness the power of anger so it becomes a friend not a foe.

“CBT is only a sticking plaster, it doesn’t go deep and doesn’t create long-lasting change. CBT is delivered by emotionless barely adult robots. CBT blames me as the client when I don’t feel any better. CBT feels mechanical and superficial, it doesn’t see me in all my complexity. CBT doesn’t do emotions or warmth. CBT isn’t interested in relationships it’s all tools and technique….”

In the second part of this two-part blog post, I’ll bust some of the common myths about CBT and explore where they might have come from and why.

“CBT is only a sticking plaster, it doesn’t go deep and doesn’t create long-lasting change. CBT is delivered by emotionless barely adult robots. CBT blames me as the client when I don’t feel any better. CBT feels mechanical and superficial, it doesn’t see me in all my complexity. CBT doesn’t do emotions or warmth. CBT isn’t interested in relationships it’s all tools and technique….”

These are some of the many myths that you’ll hear about Cognitive Behavioural Therapy if you do a quick Google on the subject. My favourites are the expletive littered Mumsnet ones. In this two-part blog post I’ll bust some of the common myths about CBT and explore where they might have come from and why.

“If only I’d done X instead of Y. My life was so much better back then, how did I end up like this? What’s wrong with me? Why is this happening to me? It’s my fault that I am in this mess, I’m a terrible person and everyone hates me, I should have known better, I’ve messed up my life, things will never change…” Does this sound like you? You may be ruminating and it will be taking a serious toll on your physical and mental health.

In this blog post I offer some ways out of the rumination trap and explore how therapy can help with rumination when it shows up in your life.