I ended last week’s blog with the quote from Winnie the Pooh. The whole quote actually goes like this: You are BRAVER than you believe STRONGER than you seem and Smarter than you think you are Now, here at Headspace Guildford, and in the NHS, I have met a number of people who I know […]
The mind and the body
I can remember once being in a very important interview – in fact it was one of a series that I needed to pass to be accepted on to Clinical Psychology training. Despite looking calm, my voice completely betrayed me, shaking the entire way through one interview. I forged on despite sounding like I was […]
What is ‘Mental Health’
It occurs to me that I’ve been talking a lot about kindness recently, and perhaps not started at the beginning. I recently had a conversation with someone which went like this: Me – “How are things?” The other person – “Good thanks, we’re all doing fine. Except for my sister in law. She’s got Mental […]
Things I’ve learnt from parents
Following last week’s post about what I’ve learnt from young people I’d also like to represent the other side too. At Headspace Guildford, and in my NHS job, I am in the humbling position of hearing from parents every day and of sitting in on parents and children/young people as they talk. Here are some […]
Things I’ve learnt from young people
I have the privilege of working with young people and getting to hear more about the world they live in. This is invaluable for me as I genuinely believe that adults can learn a lot from them. Here are just a few of the lessons I think we could all learn from: Teenagers still need […]
It’s nice to be nice
I don’t mean to sound wet (or like I have a limited vocabulary) but really, it is nice just to be nice. In fact, it’s more than nice – it’s really important if you care about people and their emotional health and well-being. Today, when I was driving, I was waiting behind a parked car […]
Shark music (or why managing emotional situations is so hard)
Have you ever been in the situation where you’ve been with someone who is upset and you end up feeling pretty rubbish yourself. By ‘upset’ here I mean angry, sad, anxious, fearful, cross and a whole range of other emotions. Whenever we face an emotional situation we can struggle to manage our own feelings. We […]
Inside out?
I have a quote on the wall in my office. It says “nobody’s got it all figured out”. I like it very much because it gives me comfort when I haven’t got a clue what to do or when I’m feeling bad. The truth is, I definitely don’t have it all figured out. Neither does […]
Pay it forward
We talk a lot about interventions to improve people’s mental health. At Headspace Guildford we see lots of people struggling with their mental health. Here’s an intervention you don’t need a doctorate to administer. Once I was in a cold car park in the rain (bear with me…). Armed with my bank card and my […]
A little more kindness in the world…
…would go a long way. Mostly, people are just trying to make their way in the world. Nobody’s got it all figured out. People mess up and don’t always get things right, but their actions are rarely actively malevolent. So if we want to make the world a better place here are some things we […]
