Refresh Integrative Wellbeing

Refresh Integrative Wellbeing Hi I'm Danielle and I'm here to make the experience of therapy, different.

Therapy is a game changer, not only to use during times of difficulty & distress, but as a proactive tool to help you make the most of life.

Your body is an amazing machine doing its thing....🌬Increasing your breathing & heart rates to get oxygen to your muscle...
22/07/2025

Your body is an amazing machine doing its thing....

🌬Increasing your breathing & heart rates to get oxygen to your muscles when you exercise

💪Sending 'repair' cells to your muscles to help them repair & grow after a workout

🍕Sending messages brain to gut, triggering the release of appetite hormones when you're low on fuel

💖🔥Triggering various mood hormones to help you know what helps you feel good....and what needs attention

But it needs a little help....

The cells in our body will do their thing but they need the right ingredients....

Our Window of Tolerance shrinks under the weight of stress and trauma, but not all of that stress and trauma is what we experience

If our cells can't repair due to lack of nutrients, it causes Inflammation, just like when we bump & bruise ourselves....Inflammation is a stress on our system

When our gut does not have the right balance of bacteria, it cannot eliminate waste & toxins from our body, causing Inflammation & blocking the absorption of all the nutrients we need to repair the damage....AND for every day, balanced function

Chemicals absorbed into our body, such as artificial sweeteners, are treated as a 'threat' by immune cells, causing Inflammation, while the low calorie content marked by sweet taste tricks our body into thinking it has more energy than is present, causing blood sugar imbalances & mood disturbances....hello hangry!

Nutrition has a powerful impact on our Mind, Body & Soul wellbeing, so why not try using one of these 5 tools to give your body some support & love 💖

Next week, we're looking at 5 ways to use movement to help stretch our Window of Tolerance 💪💪

4 posts, 20 strategies to improve your life....Why?Because we all deserve to have the best experience of life that we ca...
21/07/2025

4 posts, 20 strategies to improve your life....

Why?

Because we all deserve to have the best experience of life that we can....

For ourselves and for those around us who care, and who are also watching and learning from how we treat ourselves when things get tough

The start of the Summer holidays has landed in our household, and while some of the time & logistics pressures have been removed, life will always present new challenges in their place....

We can't always choose or control our environment, but our power lies in learning how our Mind, Body & Soul system works, and how we can use it for collective benefit to:

🌋Reduce stress & reactivity
🔥Process big feelings
🥊Successful resolve conflicts
⚠️Navigate unexpected changes
💖Soothe emotional discord
✨️Increase energy & motivation
⏰️Get the most out of your precious time

The most crucial element of our Mind, Body, Soul system is our Central Nervous System....

It's the pathway where all of our thoughts, feelings, emotions & behaviours are created and learning how to balance it is our greatest asset

So over the coming weeks we'll be looking at some of the CNS balancing tools I use successfully both in my personal life and that I teach clients in my private practice, so you can begin to thrive in the summer season....and beyond💪

We'll keep it simple, 5 practical ways you can use Nutrition; Movement; Wellbeing practices; & Trauma Focused Therapy approaches to stretch your Window of Tolerance & stay in Central Nervous System balance

It starts with 'Nutrition' tomorrow....subscribe to notifications so you don't miss it 💖

Emergency Responders work changes neurobiology, but it can be retrained....Do you know about your Window of Tolerance?.....
09/07/2025

Emergency Responders work changes neurobiology, but it can be retrained....

Do you know about your Window of Tolerance?
...& how to regulate it?

The Window of Tolerance shows zones where we have less & optimum Tolerance to life, triggers & stress

When we operate from the middle part, the window of tolerance, we are open, flexible, adaptable & in control, but in under or over activation zones, we have less control of our thoughts, feelings, emotions & actions & instead, act with greater influence of our automatic survival modes

Following on from our chat about our Central Nervous System 'Baseline'....the point where we NOTICE we are over or under activated, this little diagram shows a few of the signs of being over-activated or under activated, along with a few tools to shift us back into a state of balance

Two key things to note about the Window of Tolerance....

1. Your Tolerance Window will be different for different 'types' of event / experience / circumstance....although different circumstances, etc can have a key theme, such as feeling 'not good enough', alone, rejected, betrayed, etc

2. Your Window of Tolerance will shrink the more you encounter the same event / experience / circumstance, causing you to enter over or under activation modes (Huper or Hypo activation) quicker & with greater force.

If you've been following previous posts, we looked at Hot and Cold response modes of our Central Nervous System, Hot is Hyper activated, Cold is Hypo activated, the middle area is tge sweet spot of warmth & gentle activation

Thinking of your Nervous system as a pan of water can help you visualise the effect....not enough heat on the pan & the water remains stuck, stagnant & cold.
Add a little heat energy & we get warmth & some gentle movement....but too much & the water boils over or evaporates quicker.
Staying in the warm zone allows greater comfort & adaptability without moving into extremes at either end of the temperature scale

You can use up & down regulating tools to bring your system back into the window of Tolerance, or as I usually refer to it, balance

The more you practice returning to balance, the more automatically you'll do it in response to life's twists & turns

Want to learn more? We're Live tomorrow at 6pm 💖

We've looked at the Hot and Cold modes of our Central Nervous system, now for the middle bit.The quicker we can return t...
09/07/2025

We've looked at the Hot and Cold modes of our Central Nervous system, now for the middle bit.

The quicker we can return to this mode after being in the hot or cold modes of our system, and the more time we can intentionally make time to be in this mode, the better our physical, social, mental and emotional wellbeing becomes.

Even short bursts of getting into this mode throughout the day (Through grounding, breathwork and other CNS regulation tools), the less that stress, adrenaline, cortisol and norepinephrine build up in our system and create mental, physical and emotional tension, declined immune function and increased impulsivity.

Any questions, please ask away below or via DM

Emergency Service Work changes the neurobiology-The way our brain, body and behaviour responds to our environment.Follow...
08/07/2025

Emergency Service Work changes the neurobiology-The way our brain, body and behaviour responds to our environment.

Following on from the posts about common Mental, Emotional, Physical and Behavioural changes common behaviour changes in response to emergency service response work, I though it would be good to run through one of the changes from start to end so you can see real life examples of how it can play out.

Here's how neurobiological changes affect our level of REACTIVITY, showing:

*Possible Life Situations which trigger Reactivity

*Our Impulse reactions that either happen and are expressed or squashed down

*Why our impulse reactions change as a result of Emergency Service Response work (Layperson explanation)

* Why our impulse reactions change as a result of Emergency Service Response work (The Science)

*Common Behaviour Responses (How we've adapted to respond to the situation)

* Outcomes of the event - Our responses and
some consequences

* Alternate pathways you could try in order to
rewire the automatic response pathways

I'll post another behaviour change example but REACTIVITY is one of the two biggest changes because, as the name suggests, Emergency Response Work is all about responding quickly to situations using pre-programmed ways of doing things, often using unemotional 'Stereotype' information, i.e. house + fire =attack fire or as our brain can see it in its basic sense 'Threat + Known remedy action = Threat resolved'

Any questions, please feel free to DM or comment and please do share with anyone who may benefit.

What's your day-to-day 'normal'?...Stressed? Worried? Stacked?Always on the go? or maybe Exhausted? Drained? Blah?We cou...
07/07/2025

What's your day-to-day 'normal'?
...Stressed? Worried? Stacked?
Always on the go? or maybe Exhausted? Drained? Blah?

We could go on all day with the many ways we experience life, but no doubt the two explanations for however you generally 'feel' would be 'It's just life' or 'It's just the way I am'

When we go through similar events that leave us feeling a certain way, we become desensitised to it....

It just becomes the 'norm'

But the challenge with this is that although we won't necessarily experience significant mental distress, our Central Nervous System still responds to stress in the same way

Creating greater potential for blow-up or shut-down, more reliance on coping mechanisms, a greater sense of unease and sometimes doom or apprehension, and changes to our physical health
...bur the biggest challenge with Desensitisation is that it keeps us stuck

We can't be empowered to solve a problem we don't know exists!

So, if you're curious to learn what your own Central Nervous System 'Baseline' is (that is, the everyday state you consider 'normal'), I'm going to run through it with you & show you how!

We're going 'Live' this Thursday at 6pm for a Q&A on CNS Baselines and go through a Body Scan exercise to locate the root of feelings that sustain our Baseline, in our body
...I can't wait to share!

Make sure you subscribe for updates & notification of Thursday's 'Live' so you don't miss it! 💖

Here's a quick post on the 'Cold' mode of your Central Nervous system.When you have worked as an Emergency Service Respo...
07/07/2025

Here's a quick post on the 'Cold' mode of your Central Nervous system.

When you have worked as an Emergency Service Responder, you are trained to act with more urgency, meaning different parts of the brain, central nervous system and body system are operating....this happens automatically and without our real awareness.

The main change is that our actions and interpretations are chiefly handled through our Central Nervous System and brain patterns (neurobiology) rather than our Prefrontal Cortex (the part of the brain which has all of the time in the world to act, no adrenaline or cortisol effects or emotional input from distressing or stressful past experiences)

Understanding these changes is important because the more time we spend operating in these Hot and Cold 'survival modes' the more overloaded our central nervous system becomes, which can negatively impact our relationships, physical health, mental and emotional state, finances and day-to-day life.

Long-term overload can lead to severe decline in wellbeing and so the sooner changes can be identified and even the smallest changes made, the greater chance of breaking the cycle of decline.

It's really important to note that we most likely will not FEEL distress or stress a lot of the time as Emergency Service Workers are trained to be resilient and desensitised to enormous amounts of stress and trauma, however, it still overloads the central nervous system and affects the amount of adrenaline and cortisol, etc, that is dumped into the blood stream, which in turn causes the changes shown in these posts.

Any questions, please comment below or DM me and i'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Here's a quick post on the 'Hot' mode of your Central Nervous system.When you have worked as an Emergency Service Respon...
06/07/2025

Here's a quick post on the 'Hot' mode of your Central Nervous system.

When you have worked as an Emergency Service Responder, you are trained to act with more urgency, meaning different parts of the brain, central nervous system and body system are operating....this happens automatically and without our real awareness.

The main change is that our actions and interpretations are chiefly handled through our Central Nervous System and brain patterns (neurobiology) rather than our Prefrontal Cortex (the part of the brain which has all of the time in the world to act, no adrenaline or cortisol effects or emotional input from distressing or stressful past experiences)

Understanding these changes is important because the more time we spend operating in these Hot and Cold 'survival modes' the more overloaded our central nervous system becomes, which can negatively impact our relationships, physical health, mental and emotional state, finances and day-to-day life.

Long-term overload can lead to severe decline in wellbeing and so the sooner changes can be identified and even the smallest changes made, the greater chance of breaking the cycle of decline.

It's really important to note that we most likely will not FEEL distress or stress a lot of the time as Emergency Service Workers are trained to be resilient and desensitised to enormous amounts of stress and trauma, however, it still overloads the central nervous system and affects the amount of adrenaline and cortisol, etc, that is dumped into the blood stream, which in turn causes the changes shown in these posts.

Any questions, please comment below or DM me and i'll get back to you as soon as I can.

As per my previous post, here's some more Awareness of Neurobiological changes that happen as a result of Emergency Serv...
05/07/2025

As per my previous post, here's some more Awareness of Neurobiological changes that happen as a result of Emergency Service work....this time, signs of Mental, Physical, Emotional and Behavioural changes.

None of theses changes are permanent, they can be rewired with awareness and various tools and techniques, but without awareness they will play out and affect your experience of life, relationships, physical health or finances.

The signs in the blue rectangle are really important for understanding suicidal thoughts....if you've done some training on it you may recognise some of the signs from su***de awareness information....more on that in future posts.

Over the next couple of days i'll share some posts I released on my Instagram page showing the two different ends of the Central Nervous Reaction thermometer....The boiling 'Hot', 'high reactivity reactions (some of which shown on red) and the 'Cold', shut down responses (shown in blue).

Its very common to see-saw between the two as being in the 'Hot' zone for any length of time exhausts the Central Nervous System and can leave us with the feeling of being 'Tired but Wired' (where we feel drained but our mind won't stop racing / thinking), or 'Shut down ' and completely burned out.

On Tuesday I'll run through a 'Start to Finish' of how every day situations can play out when we've experienced neurobiological changes from Emergency Service Response work, along with a few options for rewiring the adaptive responses to more helpful ones.

On Wednesday, I'll share a post I did on what it feels and looks like to be in the middle area....something called Homeostasis or the 'Rest and Digest' mode of our Central Nervous System, which is where we experience optimum health, connection and a sense of contentment.

And finally, on Thursday I'll share some information on a scientifically evidenced (and very relatable) theory called the Window of Tolerance, which shows how the more we encounter the same situation, the less tolerance we have to it and the quicker and more intense our reaction to it is.

As with anything, the best way to understand any of this is to look at your own experiences because you cannot know all of the factors that are affecting someone else....someone may fit the description of being withdrawn and exhausted but have additional caring responsibilities you do not know about or sense that others are judging them and withdraw from places they do not feel safe to open up.

Working on your own patterns will help create a 'safe' place for people to open up with you if there is a problem by regulating your central nervous system, giving authentically receptive body language and both the empathy and communication style gained from resolving your own challenges.

Any questions, please feel free to comment below or DM me & I'll get back to you.

Life....Highs & LowsSo much to be thankful for this past couple of weeks, garden water-fights, solo frizzy-hair dont car...
27/06/2025

Life....Highs & Lows

So much to be thankful for this past couple of weeks, garden water-fights, solo frizzy-hair dont care cinema trips, summer foods, country walks & stepping out my comfort zone....then some sad news that stopped me in my tracks

Trigger warning, this post discusses su***de

I found out a few days ago that an ex watch mate from the fire service had taken his own life

Ironically, I had just had a meeting with a publishing company about putting to print a book I'd written about on how I feel men are conditioned to be predisposed to su***de
I wrote the book after losing an ex-colleague a few years ago, followed by my brother-in-law....both men I had known, lost contact with due to them moving away / leaving the service

The book was lost to a damaged hard drive....then another ex-colleague lost at Christmas prompted me to re-write it, but all too late for Scotty.

I only thought of messaging him a few weeks back

Not that you can know whether a book or a message could have made the difference or not but I do know from experience with friends, clients, & from personal experience that doing some work on central nervous system regulation is only ever helpful & trauma focused therapies to include body-centred work before the cognitive approaches, work, IF people can access them

Scotty, an ex Red Arrows engineer joined the fire service by 'mistake', he was a fascinating person, a true adventurer with a spiritual side....my enduring memory of him is dancing & singing Valerie on karaoke together in some dodgy pub during a watch night out

I'm sharing this because

I want a little part of him to live on

To help others realise that you will cross people's mind often, without your knowledge, & they will smile & be thankful to know you

Talking to others who can hold space for you is Central Nervous System co-regulation, if you can't co-regulate, learning to self-regulate can take the edge off

Trauma Focused therapy using Parts work (IFS) & EMDR works. Regardless of the outside influences on your life, the stacking up of past experiences adds additional weight to current experiences to create overwhelm

If you or anyone you know is....
Continued ⬇️⬇️

Our next Common Trigger....Betrayal TraumaBetrayal affects both the 'Betrayer' and 'Betrayee' and can result in long-ter...
18/10/2024

Our next Common Trigger....
Betrayal Trauma

Betrayal affects both the 'Betrayer' and 'Betrayee' and can result in long-term (but healable) changes in:

* Brain Structure & Function
* Emotional Activation & Range
* Thought Patterns (Sub-conscious)
* Behaviour
* Bodily Function
* Coping Habits
* Self-Evaluation

It's a lot to take in all in one go so breaking it down into manageable chunks!

The important take-home message though is that whether or not you feel affected by Betrayal, it changes mind, body and soul processes, so looking at how to work through it is never a waste....

You deserve to have your experiences validated, and you deserve to experience life wholly and completely.

So, NEXT....Sources & Types of Betrayal, they may surprise you!

Click the notifications option for updates! (On my profile > three dot menu at the top right>Turn notifications on)

Much love, Danielle x


Hi everyone, I'm just grouping a few free resources together into albums for ease of access!If you find them helpful / u...
16/10/2024

Hi everyone, I'm just grouping a few free resources together into albums for ease of access!
If you find them helpful / useful, please feel free to share and / or give the post some stars to increase visibility to others

Address

Grimsby

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Refresh Integrative Wellbeing posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Refresh Integrative Wellbeing:

Shortcuts

Share

Category