Creating and writing a clinical will has been something I’ve always intended to write but never got round to doing it. Every week, I’m guilty of always transferring ‘writing my clinical will’ onto my weekly ‘to do’ list. However, a colleague, Roslyn Byfield, Continue reading
Broken resolutions
I’m sure we can all think about New Year’s resolutions that we have made and broken. I know that I can think of some! Making new resolutions is often about changing our bad habits or becoming fitter. For example I often hear New Year resolutions of people stopping smoking or drinking Continue reading
Today on the Chris Evans show, Chris was joined by Rev. Richard Coles and Jimmy Somerville. The two former ‘’Communards’ Band members were there for separate reasons. Jimmy was there to share his music while Richard was there to lead ‘Pause for Thought’. Richard Coles talked about friendships that have crashed and burned and how we should look back at them without anger and resentment. Continue reading
I recently put up on my Facebook page a quote from JK Rowling ‘ I have never been remotely ashamed of having been depressed. Never. What’s to be ashamed of? I went through a really rough time and I am quite proud that I got out of that’. It was very popular and I expect it got many likes as many people like myself, can relate to it. Continue reading
Self-awareness grows over a period of time and with exploration. My self-awareness has been shaped by my life experiences, through the help of counselling and through self-reflection. This has helped me to learn to understand myself, my reactions and understand my own values. In my early twenties I experienced a traumatic bereavement and I will demonstrate how this life experience shaped me as a counsellor. Continue reading
Being Assertive does not mean you have to change your personality and become aggressive, passive or manipulative. Assertiveness is about learning how to be you and expressing yourself in a confident manner. To be able to do this you have to increase your self-awareness by getting to know yourself, learn how to like yourself and to be in charge of the ‘real’ you.
Assertiveness is about effective communication. It is not only about using the right words but ensuring your body language gives the right message. The focal part of assertiveness is positive thinking. Assertive people, who believe in themselves, use positive language, look for positive outcomes and are positive in their respect for other people’s view. Continue reading
When my previous counselling supervisor retired, it took a long time for me to find a new one. I finally found a new counselling supervisor that I did connect with and one I was able to be myself. I’ve had a great couple of years with her so I was therefore disappointed to hear that she too is retiring. Unfortunately as I had a poor experience during my training during my counselling supervision leaving me being cautious with whom I choose. However, as I look for a new one it does feel new opportunity to help me gain a different perspective on my work, as well as start a new relationship with a different colleague.
I am about to start a counselling Supervision course and with me looking for a new supervisor, I thought it would be a good opportunity to reflect on what is counselling supervision and what is it that I am looking for. Continue reading
Reflection of happiness
Recently a fellow colleague helped me out with my BACP accreditation by taking the time to read it and provide some critical feedback. I did not know this person very well but was grateful and happy that they had given me their time. When I found out that I had been awarded my BACP accreditation (after releasing a big happy scream) my first thought was that I must let the helpful counsellor know that I had gained my accreditation but I also wanted to share my happiness and have the opportunity to thank him properly. Continue reading
Do you find that you get angry so easily and feel your anger gets out of control? You are not alone. However, you must remember that anger can be both a positive and negative emotion. We all have angry feelings now and again. Anger is a normal emotion and in itself it is not a problem. It becomes a problem if you express it verbally or physically. Do you know what you do with your anger and how you express it? Does it feel out of control? Continue reading
Negative thinking habits
We all have a running commentary of thoughts going on in our head in every situation we are in. These thoughts can be positive and therefore helpful to us. On the other hand if our thoughts are negative they will be become unhelpful to us. Negative thinking can lead to greater stress and unhappiness. It is a way of thinking about yourself and the world which distorts how situations really are. I am going to describe some common habits of negative thinking. See how many apply to you. Continue reading