Author Archives: Ellie Atkins

I don’t mean to sound like boring old woman, but I’m not a big fan of Halloween. In fact I would go as far as to say I actively dislike the celebration of Halloween. I have two reasons why, so bear with me as I try to explain my Clinical Psychologist’s perspective on the wholeContinue reading “Why I’m not a fan of Halloween”

Recently, I passed someone who was crying, sitting just outside the hospital where I work part of the week. I stopped and asked her if she was OK. We shared a story and talked about what had happened to her that morning. We ended up laughing about the healing power of chocolate and when IContinue reading “The power of kindness”

The world can be a depressing place. Headlines about Brexit stalemates and the climate and about bad people doing things all over the world. But when it gets depressing, I take heart from the number of amazingly, lovely and just plain good people there are out there too. I don’t mean perfect people who getContinue reading “Hope beyond the headlines”

Quite often people come to see me at Headspace Guildford and they aren’t feeling too good. Their feelings have got big and they are struggling to know how to manage them. And really, they just want to feel better. And also that’s what their parents want for them too. Now, I do know many strategiesContinue reading “Bad feelings and riding the waves”

So often these days we use terms like ‘beyond busy’ and ‘at capacity’. It’s not always clear whether we have got busier or whether our rhetoric has just become more catastrophic. What is true is that it seems to be harder and harder to demonstrate our self worth unless we are busy, rushing, juggling andContinue reading “Beyond busy and making time for headspace”

Last week I talked about this article about the skills needed to survive in the 4th industrial revolution and decried the potential loss of active listening as a skill for life. However, the article gave me a lot of food for thought generally because the other skills on the list are also really important andContinue reading “Skills for life”

Apparently in 5 years’ time, the skills we need to thrive will have significantly changed. You can read the article I’m talking about here What struck me most about the lists they present is that by 2020 apparently needing to employ the skills of ‘active listening’ will have dropped from the top priority list. IContinue reading “Are you really listening to me?”

Over the last couple of weeks, I have talked about how hard holidays can be. Perhaps that chimed with you – or perhaps not. Some people really do love holidays. Lots of the children and young people I see at Headspace Guildford really love the holidays. A time away can be important for rest andContinue reading “Back to school worries: NRTIHRN”

We spend a lot of time wondering if what we are doing is good enough. If we are working hard enough, eating healthy enough, looking smart/trendy enough, raising our children well enough. Are we good enough friend/partner/parent/sibling etc? Are we doing things right? We look at other people and we think what they are doingContinue reading “Comparisons and difference”

A long while ago I wrote this blog [http://headspaceguildford.co.uk/savouring-little-things-day-life-parent/] which talked about how you find the good in the things that are happening – realistically facing life as it is – good bits and ugly bits and all. There is a therapeutic approach called ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) which highlights how life is likeContinue reading “Savouring the little holiday things”