EW Therapy

21/07/2025

Some stories unfold in quiet, powerful ways…

As we prepare to welcome Halo’s puppies into the world, I’m also marking the anniversary of my dad’s passing. What I’ve never shared is that Halo was born in the same house I once lived in with him, a full-circle moment we never saw coming.

My dad would’ve loved her. Her gentleness, her calm, the way she supports young people in therapy. As she becomes a mother, it feels deeply symbolic, of healing, of presence, of life continuing.

Paws & Presence begins with all of that in mind. A space for connection, growth, and the quiet magic of a puppy’s love. 💛🐾

20/07/2025

🐾🌿 Exciting News -

Our gorgeous therapy dog Halo is expecting 5 beautiful puppies end of july, right here in our cozy Magic Room at EW Therapy! 💛🐶

These puppies are bringing something very special to you:

🐾 Paws & Presence – 1:1 Puppy Therapy Sessions

Designed to help children and young people feel calm, connected, and emotionally safe through gentle puppy play and therapeutic activities.

✨ Each session is 40 minutes of:

• Soothing grounding techniques to settle the nervous system
• Gentle emotional connection and bonding time with the puppies
• Sensory-rich, mindful activities to support presence and regulation
• Joyful, safe experiences tailored uniquely to your child’s needs

Perfect for 6+ especially for those experiencing anxiety, school stress, or sensory overwhelm.

📍 Based in Camberley, Surrey
🗓️ Starting this summer, limited spots available!

📩 DM to book

Let’s pause, breathe, and be present, with paws by our side. 🐾

18/07/2025

🌞 Last Day of School – A Gentle Pause 🌞

As the school year ends, I’m reflecting with so much gratitude, for the space held, the stories shared, and the incredible young people who’ve trusted me through it all.

Therapy during the school year is quiet but powerful. Progress isn’t always loud, sometimes it’s a deep breath, a brave word, or just showing up.

💛 To the young people I’ve worked with: thank you for your courage, humour, and honesty. You are more than enough.

💛 To the parents, carers, and school staff: thank you for the care behind the scenes. You are the quiet scaffolding that holds it all up.

As we head into summer, here’s some gentle advice:

🌿 Keep structure soft
🌿 Boredom can be good
🌿 Feelings come first
🌿 Connection over correction
🌿 Take care of you, too

Summer doesn’t need to be perfect, just kind, calm, and real.

With warmth and care,

Eliza 🌿

16/07/2025

🕯 To the Forgotten Families 🕯

🚪 No one sees us when we vanish from the school gates.
📉 No one calls when attendance quietly falls to zero, not after the pressure, the letters, the threats from services that should have known better.
💔 There are no flowers when education ends not in celebration, but in heartbreak.

We are the forgotten families.
The ones who slipped through the cracks of a system that promises inclusion, but delivers delay, disbelief, and dismissal.

🚫 We didn’t walk away from school.
🏫 School walked away from us.

Now some of us live in limbo —
📑 Fighting for EHCPs,
⏳ Waiting for tribunals,
🤲🏼 Trying to hold our children, and ourselves together.

❌ No timetable.
❌ No support.
❌ No certainty.

But also:
💪🏼 No giving up.
🚫 No turning back.
🛡 No shame in doing what’s right for our children.

We might be quiet, but we are powerful.
We are parents, therapists, advocates.
We are grief, and grit, and grace.

And we are not alone.

To every forgotten family:
👁 I see you.
🫶🏼 I am you.
📣 You matter.

Eliza | Therapist, Advocate & Mum
EW Therapy

MPs in Surrey take part in a debate about Special Educational Needs and Disabilities services.

12/07/2025

This morning, I received an email from the SEND Tribunal.
My six-year-old’s EHCP appeal? Scheduled… over a year from now. 📆

By then, he’ll have been out of school for 18 months.
Eighteen months with no education, no support, and no urgency from the very people who are legally meant to protect his future. ⚖️

Meanwhile, parents get fined for taking their children out of school to make memories.
But what about when there’s no school to go to? 🤷🏼‍♀️

So today, we did what we do best…
We went exploring 🧭, made memories 💫, and reframed our beautiful day together.

Today, he learned to paddleboard 🏄🏻‍♂️ —
Not in a classroom, but out in the world, with confidence, courage, and joy 💪🏼💙

Because my child is not a number.
Not a problem.
Not a file on a desk.
He is bright, sensitive, curious, and limitless ✨

As a therapist and advocate 🤝, I walk alongside families like ours every day.
I see the emotional toll, the burnout, the constant fight just to access the basics.

The system moves slowly… unless it’s issuing fines. 🧾
But let’s be clear:

Our children are not theirs.
They belong to us, and we will never stop fighting for them. 🛡️

So if the system wants to fine families for “missed school” ….

Maybe it’s time we invoice them —
For the education, therapy, and dignity we’re privately funding every day 💸

They won’t break him.
They won’t break us.
We’re turning these into the best years — on our terms. 🌈💫

Al Pinkerton
Surrey County Council

12/07/2025

🌿 Saturday Soul Check-In 🌿

Saturdays can be a strange in-between space, not quite the hustle of the week, not quite the stillness of Sunday.

Take a moment today to pause and ask yourself:

✨ What do I need right now — truly?
✨ Where does my body feel tension, and can I soften it, just a little?
✨ What would feel kind, not productive?

Rest isn’t laziness. Slowing down isn’t failure. You’re allowed to just be.

🫶 However your week has been, today is a chance to come back to yourself. Gently.

11/07/2025

💬 What EBSA Really Looks Like (Before School Stops)

EBSA often shows up long before a child stops attending school.

You might notice:

🧠 Sunday night meltdowns or stomach aches
🤒 Frequent illness that’s hard to explain
😢 Morning panic, tears, or silence
😴 Total exhaustion after school
😡 Clinginess, anger, or shutdowns

These aren’t “bad behaviour.”
They’re distress signals.
They’re your child’s nervous system saying:
“I don’t feel safe.”

❤️ Listening matters more than fixing
🗝️ Validation opens the door to support
🔄 Behaviour is communication — connection is the response

10/07/2025

To the parent of a child with EBSA (Emotionally based school avoidance)

You didn’t cause this.
You haven’t failed.
You’re not too soft, or too anxious, or too permissive.

You are walking an invisible tightrope between pressure from systems and the needs of your child, and it’s exhausting.

Keep choosing connection.

Keep choosing your child.

Even when it’s misunderstood, you are doing the brave thing.

And that is enough.

Take care of you,

Love me x

09/07/2025

🧠 Let’s Talk About EBSA (Emotionally Based School Avoidance)

EBSA isn’t about defiance or laziness — it’s about distress.

Behind every school-avoiding child is a nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do: protect them. Whether it’s anxiety, overwhelm, trauma, sensory overload, social fear, or unmet needs, EBSA is a communication of distress, not disobedience.

👉 As therapists, educators, or parents, we must stop asking, “How do we make them go back?” and start asking, “What’s stopping them from feeling safe enough to return?”

EBSA isn’t solved with punishment, pressure, or forcing. It requires:
✨ Curiosity, not control
✨ Safety, not strategies
✨ Relationship before routine

💬 What’s underneath the resistance?
🌊 What’s the young person holding inside their body that makes school feel impossible?
🧩 What part of the system (home, school, inner world) needs support?

Recovery from EBSA is relational and layered — it might involve slow exposure, co-regulation, therapeutic support, adjustments in school, and sometimes, entirely new environments.

But with the right understanding, trust, and connection, children can re-find safety in learning — at their own pace.

⸻

📌 If you’re a parent or carer navigating EBSA, please know:
You’re not alone. It’s not your fault. Your child is not broken.
They are asking for help in the only way they can.

Photo taken of my own little navigators at Nature and Nurture Farm ❤️

08/07/2025

In therapy & outside of sessions, we see again and again that feelings speak — even when voices don’t:

• The child who lines up the same toys in the same order, as if creating control in a world that feels unpredictable 🧸
• The one who growls, shouts, or stomps like a dinosaur, not to be difficult — but because being loud feels safer than feeling small 🦖
• The one who buries themselves under cushions or crawls into a corner, trying to shrink the world to a size they can manage 🛋️
• The one who draws sunshine and smiles on Monday, and dark clouds and tangled scribbles on Thursday — using colour and shape when words won’t come 🎨🌦️

These are not just “behaviours.”
They are messages.

Sometimes, a child doesn’t yet have the words to explain what they’re feeling.
Other times, they do have the words, but they don’t feel safe, ready, or regulated enough to use them.

As adults, our role isn’t to force them to talk. It’s to:
🌈 Notice.
🧘‍♀️ Stay calm.
💛 Be curious, not critical.
🧭 Offer comfort, not correction.

Because when a child feels seen without needing to explain, something magical happens:

They begin to feel safe enough to try……..

07/07/2025

🧩 When Sharing Does Feel Right 🧩

In my last post, we talked about how not sharing can be healthy, and that it’s okay to take your time. ⏳💭
But when the time does feel right, what helps us open up?

It’s often not a question of “being more confident” or “just saying it.”

It’s about feeling safe enough. 🔐

We’re more likely to share when:
• We’re not being rushed ⌛
• Someone really listens 👂
• Our feelings aren’t fixed, just heard ❤️
• We know we won’t be judged ⚖️

Whether it’s a child whispering something into a stuffed animal’s ear 🧸, or an adult taking a deep breath before saying, “This might sound silly, but…” — these moments matter. They’re brave. And they usually happen when someone has created space without pressure.

So if someone opens up to you, even just a little, know that they’re offering something precious.
And if they don’t? That’s okay too. Just being a calm, steady presence might be the very thing they need. 🌊

06/07/2025

🌱 Not Everything Has to Be Shared 🌱

In therapy, we often talk about the value of expressing ourselves, sharing feelings, telling our stories, opening up. But sometimes, the pressure to share everything can feel overwhelming.

Whether you’re a child who’s been told “use your words” 🗣️ when you’re not ready, or an adult who feels drained by always explaining your feelings 😞 — know this:

It’s okay to keep some things just for you. 🧠💭

Not sharing can be:
• A way of staying emotionally safe 🛡️
• A sign of needing time to process ⏳
• A form of quiet self-protection while healing 💕

💬 Holding something in doesn’t always mean you’re hiding. It might mean you’re choosing when, how, and with whom to be vulnerable, and that’s healthy. 🌈

As therapists, we don’t rush the process. We gently explore the layers, knowing that sometimes silence, scribbles 🖍️, fidgeting 🤲, or a quiet “I don’t want to talk about that” speaks volumes.

Let’s normalise selective sharing, because safety, trust, and readiness matter more than pushing words out before they’re ready to come. 🌟