• Log in / Register
  • FOR THERAPISTS
  • Find a therapist

    • Articles by Rachel Kelly

    Rachel Kelly

    Rachel Kelly

    Rachel Kelly is a former journalist whose book 'Black Rainbow', on how poetry helped her overcome depression, is published by Hodder & Stoughton. The Black Rainbow app is available on the Apple App Store for £1.49. All author proceeds are going to SANE and United Response. @rache_Kelly www.black-rainbow.co.uk

    Categories

    Why Self-Compassion is as Important as Self-Esteem
    03Mar

    Why Self-Compassion is as Important as Self-Esteem
    Rachel Kelly
    empathy, family, love, wellbeing
    Mind
    My eleven-year-old daughter was complaining about her friend Mary. ‘She’s keeps boasting about her new school,’ she confided, looking despondent. ‘It’s got the most amazing netball courts and clubs for everything...and she’s got much nicer clothes than me...' As she began to sob, spouting a familiar litany about how her life was so much worse than Mary’s, I thought of Kristen Neff. She’s an American academic from Houston, who has put numbers to what I’ve long suspected as the mother of two daughters: the competition game starts young, and girls in particular...
    » Read More
    Beating 'Blue Monday'
    19Jan

    Beating 'Blue Monday'
    Rachel Kelly
    depression, stress, therapy
    Soul
    Today is allegedly ‘Blue Monday’, the gloomiest day of the year. Workers are being asked to dress in flamboyant colours in their offices to help them overcome the January blues. Mental Health Research UK says we should let loose with bright patterns and fabrics on 'Blue Monday', renamed 'Blooming Monday' by the campaigners - a spot of ‘wearapy’ as some therapists call it. The idea is to lift our collective mood and raise awareness of depression and seasonal affective disorder (SAD), as well as raise money to combat mental health issues. SAD is a...
    » Read More
    Why We Shouldn't Try to be Perfect Mothers
    08Jun

    Why We Shouldn't Try to be Perfect Mothers
    Rachel Kelly
    family, mother, motherhood, parenting, women
    Relationships
    ‘Dear Sebastian,’ the letter began in a childish script. ‘Thank you very much for my Birthday Present. I love ‘Angelina Ballerina’ books. Love Yore God Daughter Eleanor’. I laughed. As any mother reading this will know, the likelihood that my husband Sebastian would have a) known it was his god-daughter’s birthday b) sent her a present and c) known that she liked Angelina Ballerina would have been as likely as me going six rounds at the pub. For the truth is, while women have made huge strides in the workplace, many men have not made commensurate progress at...
    » Read More
    Help Beat Depression by Reading Poetry
    21Apr

    Help Beat Depression by Reading Poetry
    Rachel Kelly
    depression, mindfulness
    Soul
    We are sent what we need. So it proved recently when I finished an eight-week mindfulness course with the inspirational Anna Black, teacher and author of Living in the Moment with Mindfulness Meditations. I suspected she believed in the healing power of words as she had introduced several poems on our course. As I was leaving her class one rainy Tuesday evening recently, I told her that I shared her enthusiasm for poetry.  It transpired that she had written a dissertation looking at the therapeutic role of poetry in the teaching of mindfulness as part of her Masters...
    » Read More