Childhood is a critical phase in human development, shaping the foundation for our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It is during this formative period that our needs for love, nurturing, safety, and support should ideally be met by our caregivers. However, when these needs are neglected or unmet, it can have a lasting impact on our lives, affecting our relationships, self-esteem, and overall mental health. This article explores the consequences of childhood neglect and the steps we can take to heal and thrive despite our early experiences.

Father's Day is a time when we honour and appreciate the fathers who have played a positive role in our lives. It's a day to celebrate the love, support, and guidance they provide. However, it's also essential to acknowledge the unfortunate reality that not all fathers deserve this recognition. This blog post aims to shed light on the issue of undeserving fathers, outlining the impact they have on their children and society as a whole.

Loneliness is a universal human emotion that can affect anyone, regardless of gender. However, society often overlooks the struggles of men when it comes to loneliness. Men are commonly expected to embody strength, self-reliance, and emotional resilience, which can create barriers to acknowledging and addressing their own feelings of loneliness. In this blog, we will provide a brief overview of the topic of loneliness in men and its causes and consequences and highlight all the ways in which we can combat this silent battle.

Your life is not quite your own is it? Finding a little respite seems a challenging task and you may be feeling guilty and selfish for wanting some time out. You’re perhaps doubting yourself and questioning whether you’re doing a good enough job and could likely be finding it all a little overwhelming.

So you’re considering bringing a friendship to an end. Maybe it would simply feel easier to be without this person in your life, and maybe it’s a relationship you need to walk away from. How do we tell what is worth the work and when it’s best for us to let something go?

Connecting with Mother Earth (or Mother Nature) is an exploration of the connection between humans and nature, who we are as a species, how we can understand our relationship with the environment and how we can make better choices for ourselves and our planet.

Stress in the workplace is a normal part of life and we tend to spend a significant portion of our week in the workplace. It's impossible to avoid stress entirely, but you can learn how to manage it effectively.

World Health Day is an international observance that takes place on April 7 every year and this year is its 75th anniversary! It's an opportunity for people around the world to focus on health issues and celebrate the achievements made in improving global health.

Stress Awareness Month is an annual event that takes place in April. The purpose of Stress Awareness Month is to raise awareness about stress and how it can affect people's lives.The first Stress Awareness Month was held in 1990 by the American Psychological Association (APA), who continue to sponsor the event each year.

University Mental Health Awareness Day takes place on 9th March 2023 and is a day to raise awareness in both students and their places of study about mental health issues, including depression and anxiety. It's an important initiative as one in five people will experience a mental health problem each year and this can have a huge impact on students' lives.

Time to Talk day comes around once per year and is aimed at promoting good communication with a view to supporting our own mental health. It’s a time to consider your wellbeing and what support you have around you if you need it.

We hear the term ‘self-care’ being thrown around all over the place at the moment, and rightly so as it’s a vital part of ensuring we are looking after our overall wellbeing, both physically and mentally. I encourage self-care wholeheartedly. But what constitutes self-care? It can’t be all bath salts and skin creams can it?

Difficult subject this one, suicide. 5583 people died from suicide in 2021 across England and Wales showing an increase in cases from the previous year (Office for National Statistics). People are finding life more and more difficult to cope with and suicide can sometimes, unfortunately, become a desirable option.

Children look to their parents to care for them and nurture their physical and mental wellbeing. In the eyes of children, the parent can do no wrong. If anything, the child blames themselves for any ruptures within the parent/child relationship. We want to please our parents and to make them proud of us. We internalise any overt or covert messages that are given to us as children, whether they are good messages or bad messages.

The question of things ‘getting worse’ before improving in counselling is really food for thought. What do we mean by ‘get worse’? Are we talking about feeling worse? Depending on the type of therapy you enter into and the direction this goes, you could indeed find yourself feeling worse before you feel better.

How long does therapy last? I’m going to start by saying don’t get caught up in the logistics, if you need therapy, you need therapy, and you’ll need as many sessions as you’ll need. Everyone is different, everyone’s needs are specific to them, and there are a whole range of variables involved in trying to establish how long therapy might last.

Have you found yourself worrying that the difficulties you need to bring to therapy are too much for a therapist to cope with? Let me start by saying that the reason you’re worrying about it is likely because it feels too much for you to cope with and you can’t imagine how anyone else is going to be able to manage it. 

If you’re considering attending counselling because you have found yourself in a state of uncertainty in life, it can be tempting to ask for advice and guidance and, in the absence of someone close to you, a therapist can seem like a good choice. However….

Considering talking through your difficulties in therapy but lacking trust in what might happen with your information? It may be useful to check out the following guidelines in order to put your mind at ease and get the support you need.

Considering counselling can be a daunting prospect if you’ve never accessed it before. If you’re uncertain of what to expect and this is preventing you from taking the first step, please read on for an informational guide on what to expect from the very first session.