Blog

What are the keys to maintaining self-care while working as a therapist? How can supervision practice centre a commitment to practitioner wellbeing? Sarah Worley-James is a supervisor, trainer and manager of a university counselling service. She marks Self-Care Week 2023 with a look at three key elements that can support supervisees to consider their own needs as well as their clients’ – context, variety, and valuing ourselves.

Making mental health a priority is something we therapists commit ourselves to on a daily basis… except, perhaps, when it comes to our own. To mark World Mental Health Day 2022, we recommend posts from fellow therapists that inspire us to focus on our own wellbeing – whether we’re rebalancing our nervous systems, getting playful, integrating mindfulness, movement and self-compassion, or addressing our shame and embracing our failures.

Taking a holiday from client work is an important practice that many therapists have difficulty with. As the traditional August break approaches, Dr Chris Irons, a clinical psychologist, specialist in Compassion Focused Therapy and creator of the Self-Compassion App, explains how insights and tips from CFT can help therapists to prepare ourselves – as well as our clients – for holiday season.

How can talk therapists integrate body-based solutions to boost the safety and effectiveness of our trauma work? Ahead of a free, live and online workshop for PESI UK this Thursday and Friday, Dr Arielle Schwartz introduces the somatic interventions that can help us move trauma clients from surviving to thriving, including addressing preverbal trauma and avoiding our own vicarious traumatisation and burnout.

How can working with imagery help clients who are in danger of burnout? In the penultimate part of her series about harnessing the power of imagination, psychotherapist, author and transformational imagery pioneer Dr. Dina Glouberman discusses her work with one young man who learned to listen to his heart by exploring the image of a tree overhanging a cliff edge – and shares the two questions she always begins with when addressing potential burnout.