Blog

Mental Health scarcely gets a mention in the government’s roadmap for ending the UK coronavirus lockdown. So, in addition to presenting top international clinicians, next week’s free PESI UK Mental Health Awareness Summit will be inviting some of the UK’s thought leaders in mental health to assess the societal impact of Covid-19 – and, vitally, to talk strategy.

Therapists often find themselves disorientated by the very word dissociation. This is understandable, explains Kathy Steele, because it can be used to refer to everything from the ‘spaciness’ we might all experience when tired, stressed or ill, to a division of the self and personality that is often a response to severe trauma. Ahead of a free live webcast for PESI UK on Thursday May 14, the international trauma, dissociation and attachment consultant talks us through the four key definitions of dissociation.

Domestic abuse has surged during the coronavirus lockdown, with calls to one dedicated UK helpline doubling in recent weeks. Dr Jeannette Roddy is a counsellor, author and academic specialising in this area. In the second of a five-part weekly blog about working with victims of domestic violence during the Covid-19 crisis, she outlines three key skills therapists need for this deeply relational work.

This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week will have the special theme of ‘kindness’, in celebration of its power to strengthen relationships, develop community and deepen solidarity at a time of global crisis. In response, PESI UK is announcing a five-day online Mental Health Awareness Summit bringing together eight leading voices from May 18-22 – and it’s all completely free.

Today marks the start of Maternal Mental Health Matters Week, with a focus this year on ‘supporting mums during difficult times’. As mother, author and trainee integrative counsellor Bridget Hargreave points out, new and expectant mothers are likely to be especially vulnerable to mental health issues in the wake of Covid-19. Drawing on her own experiences, she shares some basic principles for helping women with postnatal depression.

Domestic abuse has surged during the coronavirus lockdown, with calls to one dedicated UK helpline doubling in recent weeks. Dr Jeannette Roddy is a counsellor, author and academic specialising in this area. In the first of a five-part weekly blog about working with victims of domestic violence during the Covid-19 crisis, she provides insight into the psychological control perpetrators exert – and the compassionate counterpoint therapists can offer.

Conducting online therapy during the pandemic comes with particular challenges – and benefits – when your clients are refugees. Jude Boyles is the Manager and a therapist of a Refugee Council therapy service based in South Yorkshire. In her sixth occasional blog about this work, she reflects on trauma, resilience and the need for some deep therapeutic conversations to continue despite the radically altered context.

When families function well, they provide a secure base for members to explore beyond the family’s own boundaries. But what has lockdown done to our sense of safety and threat? In her final blog about family systems during the coronavirus crisis, psychotherapist and author Annette Byford observes the sense of creative togetherness that has been fostered among some families – and wonders whether the relaxing of restrictions will be experienced with relief, or a sense of loss.

The current crisis is a chance for us all to rethink our values. Earth Day, which has its 50th anniversary today, reminds us to include our relationship with the planet. Taking a holistic perspective, psychotherapist, ecotherapist and lecturer Dr Joe Hinds explains why we need to rediscover community and our environment, and calls on therapists to ensure we don’t let empathy become a myopic activity confined to the consulting room

How does grief affect us when it relates to an animal companion? An animal enthusiast himself, therapist and author Ken Dolan-Del Vecchio led pet loss groups for over a decade. To mark National Pet Month in the UK, he urges practitioners to appreciate the intensity of a grief that can often leave clients feeling isolated and stigmatised.