Read our posts about therapy

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...
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06Jan

What you Need to Know About Counselling for Children

Michèle Bartlett

child, counselling, family, therapy

Mind

I am sometimes asked, why can’t just any psychotherapist or counsellor work with children? Why do I need to look for somebody with specialist training? My answer would be, whilst any fully qualified adult psychotherapist or counsellor may choose to work with children and young people, there are particular differences in therapeutic work with children and adults that require different skills and experience. Some differences between adults, children and adolescents are obvious, but the needs and expressions of these age groups are distinctly different. As well...
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31Dec

Silver Circle: A Support Network for the Later Stages of Life

Tamar Posner

counselling, therapy

Mind

Aged 50 and at the height of my former career, I was one day informed that I had become ‘surplus to requirements’ and without warning made redundant. I felt then that I had been stripped of my sense of identity, my sense of purpose and everything I thought I had known about the world. That shocking experience is the base metal from which Silver Circle has been formed. Having re-trained as a counsellor and psychotherapist, my work has since been primarily with adults on a one-to-one basis; in the process I have found it particularly rewarding to work with people who,...
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15Dec

Why Counsellors are so Busy at Christmas

Saff Mitten

anxiety, counselling, depression, loneliness, therapy

Therapists

Although Christmas is a festive period it's not always a happy time for everyone. Some people really struggle with life in December, perhaps more-so than at any other time of the year. As a result it is quite a common time for people to seek out a counsellor and start having counselling. This is partly because of the widespread preconceptions that we have about Christmas and the New Year, that this whole period should be a happy, sparkly, carefree time for socialising and celebrating with friends and family. But if the reality of our lives doesn't match...
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09Dec

What is Music Therapy?

Gráinne Foster

career, counselling, creativity, music, therapy

Mind

What is music therapy? Depending on many things, including my energy levels and perception of the openness of the questioner, this question can elicit from me a breadth of reactions. It's the one most often posed to me, since my decision to train as a music therapist five years ago. It's one for which the answer has since mutated into many fluid variations and continues to be re-defined for me. To a stranger, I will answer, “using music to help others”. To an interested colleague however, the answer is more complex, as music therapy is not one unified...
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08Dec

What is Dynamic Running Therapy?

william pullen

exercise, therapy

Therapists

We are becoming increasingly aware of the holistic nature of physical and mental health, the knowledge that the mind and the body affect one another and both need our care for overall wellbeing. Doing exercise releases hormones to your brain which boost self-esteem, help you concentrate and help you get more sleep - all important factors in mental health. Exercise clubs, such as running clubs, are also a great way to meet new people. You don't have to be running half marathons to benefit from exercise: going for a walk, cycling to work, getting off the bus a few...
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06Dec

Man up for Psychotherapy

Aaron Balick

counselling, men, society, therapy

Therapists

When it comes to the talking therapies, it is definitely not a man’s world. Not only are women far more likely to opt for a talking therapy when feeling distressed, but as Andrew Samuels pointed out in a previous post, more than 80% of BACP members are female. In this simple context it’s no wonder some men may wonder if therapy was really for them. Wouldn’t it be better to just “man up”, like their fathers did? “Getting on with it” is certainly a British trait, one which many trace back to distant fathers returning from war unable to speak about their...
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20Nov

Coping with a Relationship Crisis

Saff Mitten

couple, love, men, therapy, women

Therapists

When you are going through a relationship crisis and you don't know if the relationship is over, or if you are in fact dealing with the ending of a relationship, it's an incredibly difficult time. You may find yourself struggling to cope emotionally, which of course has an impact on your ability to deal with day-to-day life. At such times, some people find they have trouble sleeping or eating, while others may start to over indulge with food as a way to stuff down the feelings and numb the pain. Some people start to drink more than usual to block out their...
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18Nov

Eating Disorders: A Deep-Rooted Problem

Sarah McGuinness

counselling, eatingdisorders, men, self, therapy, women

Therapists

Increasingly it seems that almost every woman has some sort of disordered relationship with food and it’s become quite rare for women I see in my therapy practice not to have issues with food and body image. It’s so common in our society that it seems almost normal. However diagnosed eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are far more serious than the day-to-day preoccupation with food and weight that many women experience. Sophie contacted me in her late twenties, having had an eating disorder for over ten years. She had reached the point where she...
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14Nov

Depression: What it is and how to deal with it

Saff Mitten

counselling, depression, therapy

Therapists

From time to time most of us may say "I'm feeling a bit down" but what does it actually mean to be depressed?  Depression can take many forms and vary in terms of how long it lasts and impacts us, however it usually involves more than just feeling a bit down. With at least one in ten of us experiencing depression in our lives it's likely that if you haven't experienced it yourself, you will know someone who has, even if you haven't been aware of it. Mild depression  At one end of the spectrum is what's often referred to as low level or mild depression....
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