Feed The Soul Therapy Rooms

19/01/2026

ADHD and perimenopause can have a significant and often under-recognised relationship which often unmasks pre existing ADHD.

Common symptoms include:

• Difficulty focusing or staying organised
• Emotional dysregulation
• Mental restlessness
• Impulsivity
• Forgetfulness

Women often mask symptoms well, which can lead to years of coping before diagnosis albeit it’s exhausting.

Perimenopause is the transitional phase before menopause (typically starting in the 40s), marked by fluctuating hormone levels—especially estrogen and progesterone. These fluctuations can cause:
• Mood swings
• Poor sleep
• Brain fog
• Memory lapses
• Reduced stress tolerance

For women with ADHD, perimenopause can feel like their symptoms suddenly worsen or become unmanageable. This is largely due to hormonal changes, particularly drops in oestrogen, which has a key role in:

* Modulating dopamine (a neurotransmitter central to ADHD)
* Supporting attention, memory, and mood

As oestrogen levels dip Dopamine activity can fall and ADHD symptoms (especially executive dysfunction, emotional regulation, and attention) can intensify.

Oestrogen also supports other chemical messengers in the brain like serotonin, the happy brain chemical and melatonin which helps us with sleep . As oestrogen drops so so do these brain chemical.

Some women are first diagnosed with ADHD during perimenopause because what they once managed so well now feels completely overwhelming. So they go to their docters with stress, anxiety, low mood and say they feel exhausted!

Ringing bells? 🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔

If you identify and feel you need support in finding ways to be assessed or you maybe self indentify as ADHD and would like to learn ways to cope better, I have developed a bespoke package of care that will help and support you navigate the ADHD characteristics and impairments so less becomes more manageable and not so overwelming.

Reach out and feel better soon.

adhdwomen menopause womenshealth womenshealthmatters

05/01/2026

Wishing all my clients and colleagues present, past and maybe future, a healthy, calm and balanced 2026.

My 2025 was full of learning and new experiences so much so I haven’t been here for a while so I thought I’d offer a quick update to let you know what I have been up to!

I have been focused on my work in GP as well as maintaining my private practice. It’s been busy but I managed the juggle making sure I got time to rest and reset myself!

During this time I have also trained to be an ADHD assessor and built a package of practical resources to support people post diagnoisis that is receiving really positive feedback.

I continue to support women with their specific emotional wellbeing needs from menarche to menopause and anything in between particularly perinatal emotional wellbeing.

On a personal level I have travelled across continents! I was fortunate to be able to travel to Sri Lanka and South Africa last year. I accomplished a life long ambition to visit the beautiful island of Ithaca in Greece to particpate in an amazing Yoga retreat. I also managed a few road ttrips around the UK from Cotswolds to Cornwall to Liverpool, all with my new four legged shadow Bertie - my young springer spaniel!

As for Feed the Soul - for 2026 we are moving into a new era of productivity with new rooms opening across west and east sussex to offer my services in more gorgeous spaces. I still provide sessions online too!

News will be unfolding here soon so watch this space.

With love and gratitude 🙏🏻

Take care and stay in touch 💜

23/09/2025

If you were told you weren’t good enough or sensed you were a failure, that you were lazy, disorganised or careless - you were simply trying to navigate life with tools that didn’t actually work for your brain’s wiring.

You were handed guilt, shamed.
Labelled disorganised and told “could do better” “must try harder”.

You were accused of procrastination forgetfulness, laziness, being flakey or fickle, over thinking or being over sensitive.

You were told you were overreacting when you felt the physical, cellular sensation of rejection in your body. When your throat closed and you thought your heart may shatter. When you stopped breathing and your mouth went dry because someone simply said “no” to you. When this physical sensation of rejection made you think you might actually die in this moment.

But here you still are.
You made it here.

With your hyperfocus, resilience and tenacity you keep showing up.
​
You no longer need to keep proving your worth through your overwelm and exhaustion.

You’ve already done the hard part - existing in a system that does n’t suit your wiring and created physical discomfort in your body.

Now it’s time to build you own system. One that finally supports the way your brain works. It is time to build something that works for you, not against you that celebrates your amazing , unique qualities and your kind generous heart.

Get in touch and let’s build you a new system together.

05/09/2025

Finding the breathtakingly beautiful natural colours of the ocean, connecting with a community of likeminded women. Dancing, swimming, eating and sharing together. Re- finding my meaning and purpose. Creating a sense of connection and freedom, together and personally, using movement. Writing sharing and laughing together.

This retreat has fed my soul and filled my heart with joy and curiousity for new adventures ahead 💙

Gratitude 🙏🏻

16/08/2025

Based on neuroscience HG provides a quick and effective way to support people in getting their lives back on track quickly and effectively.

Based on a neuroscientific knowledge and a set of organised ideas, the approach can build on persons own resources so the practical skills learnt can be taken on into the future.

20/07/2025

I am delighted to now be able to provide the gold standard DIVA 5 assessment for diagnosing adults with ADHD at Feed The Soul Therapy Rooms.

Along with this assessment I can also offer a package of care built around the individuals experience of ADHD and their needs and goals.

Through my knowledge as an HG psychotherapist and using my own lived experience, I will offer techniques to stabilise symptoms, build coping strategies and develop resilience for the future.

I will teach ways to understand this neuro developmental difference so that navigating environments, situations and relationships can be managed in a positive way.

I will teach ways to manage the co-morbidities associated with ADHD Eg. depression, anxiety, stress, OCD, substance misuse and self harm.

I will teach ways to manage the impairments ADHD can bring Eg. fear of rejection (RSD), low self esteem and low self worth, overwhelm and burn out and withdrawal.

Together we will build a bespoke, practical and accessible tool kit built around my clients needs.

If you identify as having ADHD and do not want to have the DIVA 5 assessment we can still build a package of care around your needs.

A client recently offered:

“From my very first conversation with Catriona by telephone, I experienced the incredible relief of being deeply understood by someone who could recognise everything I was dealing with and who knew how to help.

Each session I was put at ease by Catriona and would leave feeling that I was receiving care that would genuinely help me over time.

I really appreciated Catriona’s natural empathy and very genuine personality, with her deep listening and understanding skills.”

(Shared with consent).

ADHD is not a “disorder” it is a neuro developmental difference that, when understood and managed, can release incredible potential.

If you or if you know someone who would benefit from a complimentary chat around my ADHD package of care - do get in touch and feel better soon 🙏🏻

20/07/2025

I am delighted to now be able to provide the gold standard DIVA 5 assessment for diagnosing adults with ADHD at Feed The Soul Therapy Rooms.

Along with this assessment I can also offer a package of care built around the individuals experience of ADHD and their needs and goals.

Through my knowedge as an HG psychotherapist and using my own lived experience, I will offer techniques to stabilise symptoms, build coping stratedgies and develop resilience for the future.

I will teach ways to understand this neural developmental difference so that navigating environments, situations and relationships can be managed in a positive way.

I will teach ways to manage the co-morbities associated with ADHD Eg. depression, anxiety, stress, OCD, substance misuse and self harm.

I will teach ways to manage the impairments ADHD can bring Eg. fear of rejection (RSD), low self esteem and low self worth, overwelm and burn out and withdrawal.

Together we will build a bespoke, practical and acessible tool kit built around my clients needs.

If you identify as having ADHD and do not want to have the DIVA 5 assessment we can still build a package of care around your needs.

Everything is in the table for discussion.

A client recently offered:

“From my very first conversation with Catriona by telephone, I experienced the incredible relief of being deeply understood by someone who could recognise everything I was dealing with and who knew how to help.

Each session I was put at ease by Catriona and would leave feeling that I was receiving care that would genuinely help me over time.

I really appreciated Catriona’s natural empathy and very genuine personality, with her deep listening and understanding skills.”

Shared with consent.

ADHD is not a “disorder” it is a neural developmental difference that, when understood and managed, can release incredible potential.

If you or if you know someone who would benifit from a complimamtary chat around my ADHD package of care do get in touch and feel better soon 🙏🏻

11/07/2025

Feed the Soul Therapy Rooms as exciting new packages of care coming soon.

We will keep you posted here 💜

13/04/2025

Simple ways to improve you brain health and so your emotional wellbeing.

In a world where being “busy” is seen as positive sign that you are doing ok, it’s actually being “present” in meeting our needs that really helps us to do ok.

02/01/2025

01/12/2024

“The study shows that pregnancy can bring significant changes to the brain as well as the body.

Over the course of pregnancy, the body experiences major increases in hormone production. This triggers profound changes throughout the body, including in the brain.

Scans of the brain before and after pregnancy have shown a reduction in gray matter volume. Gray matter contains the bodies of neurons, synapses, and glial cells, and is found mainly in the brain’s surface layer, called the cortex. However, changes in the brain have not been observed during pregnancy.

To better understand these changes, researchers collected 26 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in a first-time mother throughout her pregnancy and beyond. The scans covered the period from three weeks before conception through two years after giving birth. The research team was led by Drs. Laura Pritschet and Emily Jacobs at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Elizabeth Chrastil at the University of California, Irvine. Results of the study, which was funded in part by NIH, appeared in Nature Neuroscience on September 16 2024.

These results show that the volunteer’s brain underwent changes on an almost weekly basis during pregnancy. This supports the idea that pregnancy is a period of high neuroplasticity—the capacity of networks of neurons to adapt and reorganize.

The findings are a key step in building a comprehensive map of the human brain during pregnancy. Such a map could be a resource for neuroscientists to further explore the maternal brain. The team next plans to record the brain changes during pregnancy in more women. This will reveal whether the changes observed in this study are typical of the broader population. It may also reveal whether variations in these brain changes are associated with health outcomes, such as postpartum depression.

“The more we learn about the maternal brain, the better chance we’ll have to provide relief.”

—by Brian Doctrow, Ph.D.

18/10/2024

🌷As women we are incredible creatures🌷

🌹🌸Menopause signifies the ending of an era and the begining of a new one 🌹🌷

🌹🌷New pathways are not always easy to navigate 🌸🌹

🌸🌷Remember you are not alone 🌸🌹