Flourishing mental health and wellbeing

08/06/2024

What enables someone to become mentally well?
I've seen several clients recently who have come to be in high levels of distress. Each has recovered.
Some continue to work with me to learn tools and practices to really thrive.
One has had made a full recovery in only 3 sessions.

How does this happen?
There are 4 components:
1. Having hope, within a relationship that is mutually determined to achieve recovery.
2. Understanding what is happening in the brain, so the client feels calmer, and progressively in control.
3. A client's desire to be well, and a willingness to adopt simple practices that will help to get them there.
4. The 'modality' or way of working. I never start with a set appraoch, but work out what will help THIS client.
Therapists should never be working with a condition, but with a unique individual. For example, for 2 clients with very disturbing OCD, we have recently taken 2 very different approaches. With one, we needed to resolve negative conditioning from childhood, and did this with Guided Imagery. With the 2nd, we used tools from CBT, and art therapy.

14/04/2024

This morning I read an interesting article by Thomas Hodgkinson in the Spectator, entitled 'The Power of Talking as Thinking'.
This is an edited version:

"There’s a school of thought in psychology that believes the distinction between talking and thinking isn’t so clear.

"Talking, it is often assumed, is separate from thinking. First we think, then we speak. But the truth isn’t so simple or straightforward. Rewind to the birth of western philosophy and you find that its midwife, Socrates, preferred speaking to writing as the route to truth. So much so that he never actually wrote a book.
Fast-forward to the birth of modernity and you discover the German playwright Heinrich von Kleist making the argument explicit in a remarkable 1808 essay entitled 'On the gradual formation of thoughts in the process of speech'. Von Kleist argues that if you don’t understand something, one way to solve the problem is to talk. It doesn’t matter all that much who you talk to. Speaking and thinking work together. (….)
If you can’t talk to someone, I recommend the microphone button at the bottom of your phone keypad. Talk into a note and then read it back. This works too. (…)
If you get stuck, take the problem to the blackboard and explain it to a someone. Thanks to the cogitative power of speech, by the time you’ve described the problem, sometimes it isn’t a problem anymore."

Talking out loud - to a person, into a microphone, or even to the dog (!) is a great way to 'externalise' what we are thinking: it lowers our emotional arousal, and allows to hear and clarify our thoughts.
Try it: once we have done this, we have begun to find the solution. In many cases, the problem immediately seems smaller, or we feel more resourceful in addressing it. In some cases, we find that the problem has gone away altogether.

24/08/2023

Much harm was done to children and young people by lockdown, especially the closure of schools, colleges and universities.
An article in the Telegraph, 16th August 2023, by Ellen Townsend, sums this up well:

"No one can deny the negative impacts of interventions such as school closures on young people and adolescents: the global evidence is overwhelming. Experience on the ground in nurseries, schools, colleges and universities reveals that many are struggling, “hollowed out” by the experience.

But what is being done about it? Is there a plan to mitigate against the havoc and chaos wreaked on young lives? It may be possible to reverse some of the negative psychological effects on children if swift mitigatory action is taken.

Currently, in the UK, there is no plan. Sir Kevan Collins, who was appointed as the education catch-up chief, resigned over the dismally inadequate funding pot allocated to support educational recovery, which is just one aspect of the mitigation needed.

The longer we wait, the worse the outcomes will be. We should see the effects of lockdown not as a standstill historical event but as a moving car crash: the window to make a difference, bringing the car to a halt before it disintegrates, is closing.

There are periods of development that are especially sensitive throughout childhood and into our teens. Take brain development. Our brains are not fully grown until we are about 25 years old. During the teenage years the brain re-wires itself through a process called pruning.

This is influenced by what we are exposed to in the environment. Brain structures and pathways that are used are kept and those that are not used are “pruned” away. Thus, our development in this sensitive period is fundamentally shaped by our environment.
(...)"

Some young people have, of course, been more profoundly affected than others. Some have fully 'bounced back'. If you know who hasn't, a useful starting point is CAMHS (the NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service).

Or contact Flourishing for advice, guidance or therapy.
www.flourishing.org.uk

10/08/2023

We are back on Facebook!
For what Flourishing can offer, do have a look at the website:
www.flourishing.org.uk
Any requests, suggestions or comments are very welcome here or via the website.

Interactive, engaging education to facilitate wellbeing and optimise performance in Healthcare, Schools & Business.

16/10/2021

Attached is an overview of what Flourishing offers. Do get in touch if you would like a free initial chat.
You are welcome to send a message her.
Alternatively, email jocullen@flourishing.org.uk

05/10/2021

Very many children are experiencing difficulties at the moment. Anxiety, obsessive compulsive behaviour, worry about the future and the effects of social isolation are all common.

Flourishing mental health works with children from age 6 upwards, and with adolescents.

Young people usually make very rapid progress. They tend to be curious to try out techniques that will help them, and are often fascinated by how the brain works!

With primary age children I use games, stories and sometimes short video, so that the sessions are fun.
Young children's sessions are usually 40 minutes; teens up to an hour.

I offer a free initial consultation with a parent to get an initial picture of the difficulites the child or young person is having, to explain how I work, and to set out what I think will help.

Sessions are on Zoom, or face to face in South Gloucestershire (about 25 mins north of central Bristol, and 10 mins from the M5).

https://www.facebook.com/143666524748/posts/10160336518874749/?sfnsn=scwspmo

23/09/2021

In 2019 I had a bad riding fall. The thought of getting back on my horse, let alone riding solo or cantering, made me very anxious.
Using simple and very accessible techniques, I overcame it.
Anxiety over something specific or 'general anxiety' are 2 of the commonest ways we can be mentally unwell.
Anxiety is debilitating. When we start by understanding what is happening in our brain when we're anxious, we can quickly find ways to overcome it.

13/09/2021

In most cases of mental ill-health, one or more of our emotional needs is unmet. This is true of depression, anxiety, self-harm, eating disorders and addictive behaviour.
The first thing we need to do is to identify both our unmet need(s) and our innate resources.

There begins the path to recovery.
Not only can we restore our mental health, but also understand how to retain it going forward - whatever life throws at us.

Drug-based interventions never achieve this: they simply mask the problem. For this reason they are psychologically (as well as physically) addictive.

05/09/2021

Imagine if someone said to you that you could overcome your insomnia in 2 hours? That the trauma you've been living with could have no further impact on you in 3 hours? Or that your chronic depression or anxiety could be permanently lifted in 5 hours?
All these are eminently possible, and the cost is less than you probably think.
If this is you, or someone close to you, do enquire.
We all want to thrive - and can.