Latest articles on counselling and therapy

Do you sometimes, as a parent, worry about your child? Is he/she ok? Have you noticed that your child has become more withdrawn? Do you know their friends? As parents in the last decade or so, we have more concerns about our child’s wellbeing than ever before. They are exposed to so many different platforms of social media, such as Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube etc. There is a greater need for young people to be well liked, popular or be socially accepted. Young people turn to...

I sometimes think that every person who pursues a career in psychotherapy must have had a parent with a narcissistic personality. How else could our sixth sense have become so well tuned, our intuition so finely honed? The child of a narcissistic parent has to develop an extra awareness, an extra alertness to the slightest nuances of the parent's mood. He can "see" changes almost before they happen. In this way he learns to remain safe. Imagine the difficulties such a child must encounter...

We’ve all been there: that awful moment in a supermarket, the cinema, or a restaurant where no matter what we try, our child won’t stop screaming or crying as loud as they can. They can’t be reasoned with, and waiting it out can seem impossibly long, embarrassing, or just plain exhausting. Everybody worries about their child learning to control their emotions.

Helping kids learn how to deal with negative emotions doesn’t mean we are trying to stop them from feeling or expressing those...

Studies looking into the impact of school uniforms on mental health have shown, for the most part, that they are indeed beneficial. A study commissioned by the Schoolwear Association involved a number of student focus groups and was conducted with the intention of finding out their perceptions of wearing a uniform.

Feedback from the participants (aged 13-17) found that having a uniform meant they didn’t have to worry about what to wear each day and didn’t worry about being bullied by...

Routines can help us identify and tackle the little (or big) things that are causing friction or anxiety each morning before we head off to work or school, or in the evening when preparing for the next day. For example, getting ready the night before can take some of the stress out of your morning, allowing for a simpler routine focused on getting out the door and making it on time.

A regular routine can be reassuring, as family members know what to expect. It can also help build...

With A-level students due to collect their results on the 16th and GCSE results out on the 23rd, the next few weeks can be an anxious, stress-filled time for both teenagers and their families. Following the highly stressful weeks and months of mock exams, homework, and preparation, these in-between weeks can be an anxious time filled with nerves and what-ifs for not only the teens themselves but their parents and loved ones.

Taking this time to prepare before the big day can help not...

If there is someone with narcissistic personality disorder in your life, and especially if they are a family member, their behaviour can have a big impact on you. Other articles here have discussed what narcissism is, how narcissists behave and how counselling can help, but I want to concentrate here on narcissistic parents and the problems they can bring. It is important first to bear in mind a few points: 1. Narcissism is on a continuum and people at the lower end of the spectrum will not...

How can children learn to feel more confident about themselves and believe that they can have an effect on the world? How can children be more assertive about their abilities to cope, engaging with healthy human to human relationships instead of backing away? There are no absolute answers to these questions because all children come into this world with a unique sense of self, and there will be individual differences among them in terms of personal characteristics and how they perceive the...

When I was growing up I had two friends - I'll call them John and Paul. While my family life had boundaries and structure, both John and Paul's seemed free and casual; they could come and go as they wanted, and they never had to be home by a certain time in the long summer evenings.But I also recall both boys skipped school a lot, wore clothes that hadn't been washed, and often made a point of saying how much they'd eaten at home when, in fact, they frequently appeared hungry. Both had...