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I learned a new word...and I love learning about language and meanings. So, my word today is antonym. It means the opposite. So, the opposite of dark is light, of up is down, of left is right. Simple, right? Well, not always. Oftentimes in psychotherapy it is very useful to find out what the antonym is for words clients use. For example, a client tells me they do not want to be anxious any more. What does that mean? For one person it may mean they want to be calm. For

“Deep in your wounds are seeds waiting to grow beautiful flowers.” Niti Majethia This idea what what seems to be in the way IS the way is a powerful one.  Wounds call our attention to where it is needed, they offer us the opportunity to heal and grow.  Like water lilies growing beautiful blooms out of the mud at the bottom of a pond, our pain and suffering are the mud of existence that enable us to grow flowers, some robust and in rude health, others seeming impossibly fragil

Experience is about patterns.  There is structure and form to how we are, to what we perceive and to how we behave.  The work of...

Clients come to psychotherapy because they want something to be different to the way things are now. This can be in many different ways,...

My supervisor many moons ago pointed out to me that the client we were discussing was in a hole, and that unfortunately I had climbed in...

Boundaries. A word that is used a lot, to mean many things, like any words its meaning depends on the user and the context. The Cambridge...

I’m in the process of deepening my skills in a trauma technique based on neuro-linguistic programming, a protocol called FIRST (Fast...

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being...

Here is a link to my latest newsletter. https://shoutout.wix.com/so/49Ov1knBR?languageTag=en In this edition you will find information a...

If you’re thinking of working with a therapist, it’s a good idea to be clear about what is prompting you, and what you want to have...

I’ve recently submitted my 5-year re-accreditation to UKCP, the professional body for psychotherapists in the UK.  I was a touch nervous,...

Being authentic is the key to a happy intimate relationship.  You do not need to pretend to be anything you are not.  You will thrive in...

It is an irony that so often clients come into psychotherapy hoping that I have the answers to their difficulties, when the only person...

“In order for a child to become kind, giving and empathetic, he needs to be treated that way…A child raised with love wants to make those...

Metaphors are powerful.  When we think of one thing in terms of another that symbolises or represents it, the resulting metaphor is...

Responsibility can be a tricky concept to work with in psychotherapy.  It is a double edged sword.  On the one side, it is a given that a...

However much Hollywood or Disney persuade otherwise, it’s not realistic to believe you can have a relationship and not have any conflict...

“A life truly lived constantly burns away veils of illusion, burns away what is no longer relevant, gradually reveals our essence, until,...

“Psychotherapy is about helping clients to tolerate what they are feeling, not about having them tell stories” Bessel Van De Kolk Whether...

If you’re thinking of working with a therapist, it’s a good idea to be clear about what is prompting you, and what you want to have...