Blog

We all know how detrimental stress can be for our mental and physical health. But how can we use our clients’ somatic activation to help them heal? As National Stress Awareness Month draws to a close, Tracy Jarvis, Director of PESI UK and a psychotherapist specialising in trauma and neuroscience, introduces two categories of stressor, the roles of the HPA and SAM axes and some key pointers from Sensorimotor Psychotherapy – and shares her work with one man whose body held the memory of a bullying older brother.

When clients are overwhelmed by fear for the future, working with imagery can help us to change one crucial – and perhaps surprising – part of the picture. In the second instalment of her series about harnessing the power of clients’ imaginations, psychotherapist, author and transformational imagery pioneer Dr. Dina Glouberman shares an exercise for transforming intense fears by reimagining the future self.

Working with imagery in therapy can provide us with a powerful and practical way to promote insight, healing and change. In the first part of a new series about harnessing the power of clients' imaginations, psychotherapist, author and transformational imagery pioneer Dr. Dina Glouberman introduces a visioning the future exercise – and explains why picturing the worst might actually be a good place to start.

Cooking, as a therapeutic intervention, encourages us to respond with creative instinct and purposive focus, left and right brain working together. Ahead of World Autism Awareness Day on April 2, attachment-informed psychotherapist Charlotte Hastings explains how her Kitchen Therapy practice was inspired by her work with neurodivergent young people and informed by Winnicott’s concept of ‘indwelling’.

As therapists working with relational trauma, we are likely to know and to hear a good deal about shame. But are we neglecting its counterpart? What happens to the goal of therapy with survivors when we start paying closer attention to pride? Ken Benau, author of Shame, Pride and Relational Trauma, introduces his concept of ‘pro-being pride’, and explains why accessing this enlivened experience of being and relating is key to transcending shame.

How does war impact children psychologically, and what can we do to support the emotional wellbeing of young refugees arriving in the UK? Integrative Arts Psychotherapist Sheetal Amin shares some starting points for therapists, including examples of adjusting the frame, and reflects on how readily our society’s attitude to and treatment of refugees can compound the trauma of war.

What are the constraints of therapy with children who are in court proceedings, and who may be called upon to give evidence? Where does a child’s emotional welfare sit in the process? In her fourth occasional blog, independent social worker Gretchen Precey sheds light on the legal procedures and therapeutic pitfalls involved, and shares how supporting alleged victims of sexual abuse to “talk about not talking about it” may sometimes be the best we can offer.

How can we help more women, from diverse backgrounds, to access mental health support? On International Women’s Day 2022, Melanie Dottin of The Maya Centre explains how this intercultural women’s therapy centre in North London is engaging women for whom therapy remains taboo, out of touch with socioeconomic realities, or is simply too big and perhaps too triggering a first step.

This week, the UK’s eating disorders awareness charity, BEAT, is campaigning for UK medical schools to implement comprehensive training on eating disorders. How well are therapists prepared to work with these? Jeanne Magagna, former Head of Psychotherapy Services at Great Ormond Street Hospital and author of a new book on eating difficulties in children, sets out some of what she would like to see covered in psychotherapy trainings, from psychoanalytic insights to ethical imperatives.

If an ingredient could talk, what would it tell us? If a dish had an identity, what might it be? In her latest blog about her Kitchen Therapy practice, and coinciding with Eating Disorders Awareness Week, attachment-informed psychotherapist Charlotte Hastings explains how her Kitchen Therapy practice incorporates interventions from Narrative Therapy and insights from Self Psychology to help clients with eating disorders develop new and healthier kinds of conversations.