Blog Posts
Why You Need A Budget And How To Get One
Are you struggling to stay within your means financially? Do you find that you overspend but don’t even realise you are doing it? You may think that talking about financial issues on a counselling and psychotherapy website is a bit odd but many of the clients who come to my therapy centre in Wilmslow talk about how stressful dealing with money can be. You don’t have to be poor to worry about money It’s not just those in lower paid jobs that struggle with money. I work with many wealthy clients who still find balancing the books a challenge. Once…
How To Get More Sleep
One of the problems people with anxiety or depression often struggle with is getting to sleep. When clients who come to my therapy practice in Cheadle with this issue here are the suggestions I give to them: Put a routine in place Do the same thing every day. This way your body will get to know what to expect. Make this routine sensible and doable. Set yourself a bed time and aim to hit it every day. Prepare yourself to get more sleep Now you have set yourself a bedtime work backwards. Have at least an hour away from…
How To Really Talk To Your Partner About Important Stuff
If you are looking for Relationship Counselling in Manchester, you are probably struggling communication with your partner. There are several things that everyone wants in their relationship. They want to be heard, understood and validated. They want their partner to know what’s going on for them and “get it”. Many couples that come to my marriage counselling sessions in Cheadle just don’t feel heard by each other. They are both screaming “SEE ME” at each other, metaphorically and sometimes literally. They feel they are getting nowhere. This is why I love Imago dialogue. What is Imago Dialogue? The Imago dialogue…
Contact With The Present Moment
Ever find yourself thinking about the future? What about working through all of those stupid, idiotic things you did in the past? Like most people you probably spend an inordinate amount of time engaging with fantasies about what might happen or dissecting the hows, whys and wherefores of your history. This is normal, this is what humans do. What does this cost you when you do this? It costs you your life. F**k It Therapy There’s a great opening to the book [easyazon_link identifier=”1781800014″ locale=”UK” tag=”manchesterpsy-21″]F**k It Therapy: The Profane Way to Profound Happiness[/easyazon_link]*. John Parkin talks about how he…
Who’s Breaking Bad Mike In Your Relationship?
Have you ever stood back from your relationship and looked for patterns? Try it now. Notice if you spot any familiar positions you and your partner take. One position that may not be immediately obvious is the one around disappointment. Chances are that one of you is Breaking Bad‘s Mike Ehrmantraut pretty much all the time! If you’ve not seen the show, Mike is a hit man and “fixer” who seems to spend the entire series being let down. He is pretty much impossible to please. Can you imagine having him as your other half? Disappointed with your partner? If…
Marriage Counselling Most Frequently Asked Questions
If you are looking for ‘marriage counselling near me’ then you probably have a tonne of questions about how marriage counselling works. As a marriage counsellor in Cheadle, lots of people ring up and ask questions about marriage counselling. Here are the most frequently asked questions and my most commonly given answers. Does couples counselling work? Good question! I wrote a whole blog post, just on this issue (read it here). Here’s the edited highlights … Yes, and er, no. It depends on the couple. If you are coming to couples counselling to get me to fix your other…
Defusion. How To Deal With Difficult Thoughts.
Ever got stuck in thoughts? Had a thought going round and round in your head that’s driven you bonkers? Humans are a rare animal indeed. We have language. Language is an amazing tool and has allowed us to dominate the planet. The downside of language though is that we get stuck in it sometimes, a bit like a fisherman getting tangled in his own net. The downside of thoughts It’s pretty easy for us humans to get fixated on a thought about ourselves or someone else, project ourselves into the future or ruminate on the past. All of those private…
Values Based Living. How to Connect To What’s Important.
The vast majority of people who come and see me in my therapy centre in Cheadle want me to get rid of something for them. They want me to get rid of their anger, anxiety, sadness, grief, depression, jealousy or other unwanted feeling. This makes complete sense. Humans don’t like pain. We want to get rid of it. I will invite each one of them, and you reading this blog post, to connect with the other side of that coin. What’s important in your life? What many of us forget is that whilst we are furiously trying to get rid…
Dealing With Jealousy
Is jealousy a big part of your life? Does the green eyed monster attack just when you least expect it? I’ve blogged a lot about jealousy through the years, mainly because it’s the issue that brought me into therapy twenty years ago. Jealousy Counselling Cheadle As a young twenty something man I would become insanely jealous of what my partner was doing, where she was going, who she was with, even what she was wearing. It became unhealthy for me. It kept me up and night and spoilt the relationship I had with her. We had unnecessary arguments about…
How To Prevent A Panic Attack
Are you experiencing anxiety? Do you find that things start to spiral and you end up having a panic attack? Panic attacks are a common behaviour for people with anxiety and build up to almost mythical levels of dread for many of the clients I see in my therapy centre in Wilmslow, Cheshire. A few facts about panic attacks You can’t be hurt by a panic attack. Nothing bad happens. Your brain may tell you that panic attacks are terrible but connect with your experience. Stand back and notice. Think of a time when you had a panic attack. Did…