Category Archives: Uncategorized

Last week I was talking about practising what you preach (here). I came across this quote which summarises it too… “The world is changed by your example, not your opinion” It’s easy for us to have an opinion on may things but it’s the action that makes the difference. This is as true for MentalContinue reading “Changing your world”

I truly believe in practising what you preach. If you’re not prepared to do something then you shouldn’t be asking other people to do this. This is as true for Clinical Psychology as it is for cutting down on plastics or flying less air miles. And it’s almost easier to enact for Clinical Psychology becauseContinue reading “Practice what you preach”

I have a psychologist friend who says that thinking is the key work of a Psychologist and what makes us stand out from other professionals. Now, I think that Psychologists are often lumped in with all the therapy-type professions and have a reputation for being ‘fluffy’ and ‘navel-gazing’. My experience of Clinical Psychology is thatContinue reading “Fluffy + Science = formulation”

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?”