Jacqueline Green Counselling

Jacqueline Green Counselling I am a young person and adult counsellor. BSc, PGDip, MBACP. I am a registered member of the BACP.

I offer online and phone counselling sessions throughout the UK and additionally, face to face within East Lothian. All emotions, challenges, life experiences and difficulties are welcome in counselling. Some of my speciality areas include; adolescents, childhood trauma, attachment/ relationships, grief/bereavement, suicidal ideation, pre/postnatal difficulties and estrangement. As a person-centre

d counsellor, I adapt my practice depending on a person's unique needs to ensure that you get what you need out of counselling. I will offer you understanding, empathy and complete acceptance. I hope that this helps you to feel comfortable, trusted and safe, especially because talking through some of our most difficult feelings can be scary. By validating your emotions and experiences, and sometimes offering gentle challenge to gain insight and awareness, we can work together, at your own pace, to process and heal your difficulties and help you move forward in healthier ways, in a way that's more true to who you really are.

So many of us end the day with a list running through our heads:
“I wasn’t patient enough.”
“I didn’t do enough.”
“I sho...
18/08/2025

So many of us end the day with a list running through our heads:

“I wasn’t patient enough.”
“I didn’t do enough.”
“I should have been more.”

We crawl into bed carrying guilt, shame, and the feeling that somehow we’re always falling short.
And it’s exhausting isn’t it? Not just because of what the day demanded, but because of what we demand from ourselves.

When I stood at the edge of the sea last night, I was reminded of something different.

The water doesn’t care if I had been short tempered that morning.
It didn’t care if I finished the emails, folded the laundry, or kept it all together.
It did’t ask me to prove myself.
It just held me. Exactly as I was.

And maybe that’s the kindness we all need.
To remember that the day doesn’t need to be perfect to be over.
That we don’t need to “earn” rest.
That it’s enough to simply arrive at the end - worn out and tired, messy, still learning, and let ourselves be met with softness.

✨ So if tonight you’re lying awake replaying everything you didn’t do, try asking this instead:

“Can I let myself rest, just as I am?”

Because that one question can change everything.

eastlothiancounselling

When you realise you and your sibling grew up in the same house, but not the same home… it can shake something inside yo...
14/08/2025

When you realise you and your sibling grew up in the same house, but not the same home… it can shake something inside you.

The walls were the same. But the parents you each knew? Well, they were different people.

Maybe by the time you arrived, they were calmer… or more tired.
Maybe when your sibling was small, your parents were full of ambition… or weighed down by financial strain.
Maybe there was a loss, a divorce, a move, or a quiet shift in their inner world that changed how they showed up.

speaks about this…. how the same parents can feel like completely different versions of themselves across time. And when we factor in birth order, family roles, and unprocessed trauma, the gap between siblings’ experiences widens even more.

As adults, reflecting back on this can be disorienting.
We start to notice the different stories we’ve been carrying.
We hear our sibling’s memories and wonder if they’re talking about the same people.
We start to question the family role we were assigned: Was I really the ‘difficult one’? The ‘quiet one’? The ‘responsible one’? Or was that just how I fit into that particular moment in our family’s life?

This is more than nostalgia….. it’s a kind of identity transition.
Because when your understanding of the past changes, the way you see yourself now changes too.

You may grieve for the version of childhood you didn’t have. You may find compassion for yourself, or for your parents, that you never thought possible. You may feel an ache you can’t quite name.

And yet, this is the work of growth.
To remember differently.
To honour your truth, even if it doesn’t match the truth of those you love.

If you’re in a reflective place and you’re struggling with what to do with it all - just know you don’t have to work it all out yourself ❤️

“I miss who I was before I became a mum.”
That’s not a failure - it’s a truth.
And for many, it’s the quiet start of mat...
07/08/2025

“I miss who I was before I became a mum.”
That’s not a failure - it’s a truth.

And for many, it’s the quiet start of matrescence: the emotional transition into motherhood.

It’s not just about nappies and night feeds.
It’s about identity.
About holding love in one hand… and loss in the other.
About wondering if you’re allowed to grieve your freedom while still loving your child with your whole heart.

Motherhood often asks women to shape-shift fast into care-giver, protector, anchor.
But who holds her through that shift?
Who makes space for the version of her that’s still finding her way?

In therapy, we don’t rush to resolve the tension.
We honour the messy middle. The space between who you were, and who you’re still becoming. Giving space for some validation and empathy goes a long way to calming a nervous system so we can then deepen our conversation. In this example, we would then potentially explore the mums fears of being judged and see where this goes….

I support women like this through life transitions, including matrescence. These aren’t just practical shifts, but deep emotional ones where grief, joy, identity and longing can all sit side by side.
You don’t have to choose one feeling.
You don’t have to do it all on your own.

_________________________

Professional disclaimer: This is a fictionalised example created to reflect common themes that arise in therapy. It does not represent a real client or session. All therapeutic work is confidential and held within ethical professional standards.

Ooooooof this is a toughie. Hands up how many people are carrying family dynamic difficulties?! “How do I get my parents...
01/08/2025

Ooooooof this is a toughie.

Hands up how many people are carrying family dynamic difficulties?!

“How do I get my parents to change?”

This is something I hear often in therapy, especially from those navigating long-standing family dynamics.

Sometimes it’s not about whether your parents are “good” or “bad,” but about recognising the quiet grief that comes with being the one who always bends, explains, or stays quiet just to keep the peace.
That grief can be subtle.

It might sound like frustration. Or exhaustion. Or a deep, aching question: Why is it me doing all the work here?

In therapy, we make space for these questions.
We slow down.
We notice what’s being carried and whether it’s still yours to hold.
Sometimes the work isn’t in doing more, but in softening the grip on a version of family that may never exist, and allowing space to feel the loss of what you hoped would be there.

I work with people during times of life transitions, and not all transitions are loud or dramatic.
Sometimes they show up quietly, as shifts in how we see old relationships.
Reflections on how we were parented, or how things feel now.
Moments when we realise: “I’ve changed… this is no longer okay”
There’s no pressure to fix anything here.
Just space to name the truth, gently, safely, and at your own pace.

______________________________

Disclaimer: This is a fictionalised example of a therapeutic conversation, created to illustrate common themes that arise in counselling. It does not describe any real person or session. All client work is held in strict confidence and follows professional ethical standards.

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Who can resist these lighthearted themes for posts 🤪Anyway, what I’m here to say is that therapy with me isn’t always co...
28/07/2025

Who can resist these lighthearted themes for posts 🤪

Anyway, what I’m here to say is that therapy with me isn’t always comfortable or easy… but it is honest and real.

It’s a space to get brave, curious, and real about what’s happening underneath.

We look at the parts you’ve outgrown.
The patterns that keep looping.
The stories you’ve been telling yourself to survive, and the ones you’re ready to rewrite.

It can be difficult to convey what to expect in counselling with me, but I always seem to come back to the simple things;

✨ it’s a space for you to be heard and listened to. To find your voice. To learn how to take up room. Maybe after years of squashing things down or ignoring what’s there.
✨ it’s a place where you can feel safe to learn how to step into your feelings with bravery and curiosity. With real empathy and encouragement, because let’s be honest, we need someone to guide us sometimes!
✨ it’s somewhere for you to return to consistently, which allows for you to practice being with your new self awareness. And have someone to help you when it feels challenging and confronting, as well as celebrate your movements and growth.
✨ it’s a place where you can learn to be experience freedom from what’s holding you back, and consider new ways of being. So you can start to consider life with more ease.

I’m here for anyone who wants these kind of things from therapy 😌😉

Jacques

“Not to be dramatic but…I asked for peace.I really thought that meant rest. Calm. Maybe some breathwork and better sleep...
21/07/2025

“Not to be dramatic but…

I asked for peace.
I really thought that meant rest. Calm.
Maybe some breathwork and better sleep.
But apparently “peace” actually means unpacking 15 years of feelings I’ve been avoiding.
Anger I swallowed.
Words I never said.
Situations I told myself didn’t bother me, but they did. And they still do”

Does this sound like you??
Are you in therapy and finding it very confronting and confusing?

No one talks about how healing can feel like getting worse before it gets better.
How exhausting it is to feel again.
How weird it is to be mad at things that happened forever ago, and still let yourself feel that anger, because it never actually went anywhere.

This isn’t often what people picture when they think of healing.
But I think this is the work.
Feeling it. Naming it. Not shoving it down again.
Letting yourself be honest, even when it’s ugly or loud or uncomfortable.

Peace isn’t always soft.
Sometimes it shows up as the chaos that finally clears the way.

If you’re in this part of the journey, just know:
You’re not doing it wrong. It’s just real.

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Dunbar

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