The Village Clinic

21/03/2026

20/03/2026

The most moving session of the Symposium so far.

Dan Siegel in conversation with Sally Maslansky - his former patient, now a psychotherapist herself - who generously shared her experience of Dissociative Identity Disorder. Not as a case study. As a person. With extraordinary courage and clarity.

DID is so often misunderstood even within the field. What Sally showed today is that it is, in fact, a brilliant adaptation to childhood. A mind protecting itself the only way it knew how when the people who should have kept it safe, didn't.

The therapeutic bond between them - the patience, the attunement, the willingness to sit with what was unbearable - was a masterclass in what heartfelt evidence based relational healing actually looks like.

Sally has written about all of this in her new book: A Brilliant Adaptation: How Dissociative Identity Disorder and the Power of the Therapeutic Bond Saved Me. It’s on my reading list.

The Village Clinic

11/03/2026

When your nervous system is in vigilance, sleep alone cannot fully restore you. The body needs cues of safety. Under sustained work pressure in midlife, this activated state can spill into long-term relationships and create emotional distance.

Book a free 15-minute therapy consultation. Link in bio. 🤍

03/03/2026

High-functioning burnout rarely looks dramatic. It looks capable, reliable and productive. And quietly you’re depleting.

Many people ignore this stage because nothing has “collapsed.” Yet internally, your patience shortens and you feel less emotional connection to people you care about.

Book a free 15-minute therapy consultation. Link in bio. 🤍

02/03/2026

Loss of desire is one of the most misunderstood signs in a relationship.

In many long-term partnerships, especially under sustained work pressure, desire diminishes because the nervous system is stretched, not because love has disappeared.

This can create shame and loneliness for both partners.

Therapy helps you make the changes in your life so that desire and attraction return naturally rather than forcing them through effort.

Book a free 15-minute consultation. Link in bio. 🤍

28/02/2026

Exhaustion reshapes behaviour. What looks like irritability or distance often reflects depleted capacity rather than lack of care.

In midlife, where work, family, and identity pressures intersect, this pattern is common and deeply misunderstood.

Therapy helps translate exhaustion back into need so that you and your partner learn to understand and support eachother again.

Book a free 15-minute therapy consultation. Link in bio.

22/02/2026

You do not need perfect communication to repair a relationship after an argument or a prolonged period of stress, but you do need to feel regulated.

In long-term relationships under pressure, people often rush to explain to each other their point of view rather than simply reconnect.

This can deepen distance even when intentions are good.

Therapy focuses on repair as a lived process that restores safety rather than winning an argument.

Book a free 15-minute consultation. Link in bio.

19/02/2026

Many high-functioning people are excellent at explaining relationship dynamics.

They can name attachment patterns, spot projections and summarise conflicts with impressive clarity.

Yet their partner, colleague or child still says, “You’re not listening.”

The issue is rarely emotional intelligence. It is timing.
🕰️

When someone is emotionally activated, their nervous system needs to feel met before it can shift into problem solving.

If we step into reflection too quickly, we regulate ourselves but the other person remains alone in their feeling state.

Over time, this creates subtle inequality in conversations.

Therapy helps you slow the sequence down so that insight follows connection rather than replaces it.

Book a free 15-minute consultation. Link in bio.

thevillageclinic

17/02/2026

The week after Valentine’s Day, many people experience a drop rather than a lift.

When closeness feels like an effort because of outside stress, putting extra pressure on yourself to be the perfect partner can actually make things worse.

This doesn’t mean your relationship is failing. Instead, take this as a sign that your relationship needs support and attention.

Therapy gives you a space to understand what is missing without blame yourself or anyone else.

Book a free online therapy consultation.
Link in bio. 🤍

13/02/2026

Repeat after me: 📣
“I do not need to be perfect to be loved.”
“I do not need to be perfect to build connection.”

Around Valentine’s Day 💘 , you won’t be the only one to feel the pressure to force connection rather than let it happen naturally. 🌱

If you’re in a relationship but also going through stress at work or in your family life, this can feel even more true for you.

But when connection becomes something to prove or a box to tick, it stops feeling nourishing. 🍲

Therapy helps you build the self-confidence to accept yourself as you are so that deeper relationships become possible.

Book a free online therapy consultation. Link in bio.