Counselling in Bath

31/07/2025

Taking on new clients now if you'd like to contact me: h.trethowan@btinternet.com

01/05/2024

I have availability for new clients.
Please contact me at:
h.trethowan@btinternet.com

16/11/2023

I'd like to share this from Eckhart Tolle:
Even if your grievances are completely “justified” you have constructed an identity for yourself that is much like a prison whose bars are made up of thought forms. See what you are doing to yourself, or rather what your mind is doing to you. Feel the emotional attachment you have to your victim story and become aware of the compulsion to think or talk about it. Be there as the witnessing presence of your inner state. You don’t have to do anything. With awareness comes transformation and freedom.

03/09/2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKq1hKMpR-k

I wrote this article originally for my profile on the Counselling Directory website and as a result have been contacted by many ACOAs seeking help for the is...

07/11/2017

'Forsyth's depiction of the Festival of Drunkeness in honour of the goddess Hathor, in which everyone got plastered, fornicated and then fell asleep, sounds much like a Saturday night out in Cardiff, only with less rain. And more religious significance.

'In 1914, Nicholas II outlawed vodka in Russia. Thus "1914-17 are the only three years in Russian history when the population has been sober enough to notice exactly what their government were doing to them". Hence the revolution.'

- A Short History of Drunkeness by Mark Forsyth (Sunday Times review 05/11/17, Christopher Hart)

22/08/2017

DANCING WITH ANGELS

The mystical Somerset town of Glastonbury is dominated by a hill, crowned by the splendid St Michael’s Tower. I wonder if a more therapeutic space exists than the top of that Tor on a sunny afternoon.

Spending the day with old friends I’d not seen for some years the conversation inevitably turned to the challenges we’d been facing and were having to overcome and lunch became rather introspective; until one of us exclaimed: “Hey, we’re in Glastonbury; we should be dancing with angels not exorcising demons!”

It’s a short bus ride and steepish walk up the Tor but you are amply rewarded with a panoramic view of the Somerset Levels; from Wells and the Mendips in the North, to the Quantocks in the West. A strong wind was constant enough to blow any demonic cobwebs away (and small dogs) and there was a festive atmosphere at the top as children and adults alike delighted in their accomplishment. We took the gentler descent back into town stopping at the peaceful gardens of the Chalice Well to sup the iron-rich spring water and take in the quiet beauty of the place. From mighty winds aloft, to gentle streams below.

We can all be affected or pulled down by events we feel unable to change; but a day climbing a small hill or sitting in a quiet garden can, in my book, do far more good than a month of introspection. We cradled crystals, bonged Buddhist gongs and brushed wind-chimes in every shop we passed. I can think of no better therapy to lift the spirits than a day out in that magical town.
And what a dull world this would be without the possibility of magic. Who knows if Glastonbury has more than its fair share?

Counselling isn’t there to provide magic wands but Glastonbury, St Michael’s Tower, and the Chalice Well took us away from ourselves for a couple of hours and helped us forget about exorcising any demons. Instead, we had a wonderful time; dancing with angels.

01/07/2017

Imperial College London scientists expect to give first dose in the next two months alongside psychotherapy

30/05/2017

I have a new article published today on the Counselling Directory website where you can also view my profile.
This is a follow-up article to my earlier one on Adult children of alcoholics.
http://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/counsellor-articles/adult-children-of-alcoholics-unhooking-from-the-past

Two years ago I wrote an article for the Counselling Directory on the problems experienced in adulthood by those brought up in alcoholic or similarly dysfunctional homes. (See: adult children of alcoh...

05/04/2017

'The counsellor can only model a good-humoured acceptance of his or her own flaws, shortcomings and limitations. In another sense, of course, every human is already perfect - as perfectly themselves as a tree is perfectly itself.'
- Petruska Clarkson (Gestalt Counselling in Action)

14/03/2017

The Shame Game: I'm pleased to have a new article published on the Counselling Directory website. Thanks to my friends on Facebook for contributing their thoughts. Feel: very unashamed!

Most of us know what shame feels like but it is quite a difficult animal to define. Dictionaries variously describe it as an uncomfortable feeling of disgrace brought on by the conscious recognition (...

31/12/2016

19/10/2016

Brené Brown's TED talks on shame and vulnerability are excellent.

Brené Brown studies human connection -- our ability to empathize, belong, love. In a poignant, funny talk, she shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity. A talk to share.