Mindful Changes Counselling and Psychotherapy

20/04/2026

MCR MARATHON RUNNER – 1% CREW ✅

42k in 4:28 hrs 💪

What an experience. The crowd was unreal and the atmosphere next level. Those last 10k was something else 🫥. I’m feeling it today: sore, but proud and accomplished.
No amount of training quite prepares you for that 😂 but I’ve taken a lot from it… especially how important pacing really is.

Massive thank you to everyone who supported and sponsored me. Every penny raised is going towards the incredible work Side by Side Counselling does, providing mental health support to those who might not otherwise be able to access it.

Sponsorship link is still open for now, if anyone would like to support and donate: https://square.link/u/z3Tmt6aX

17/04/2026

Myself and Green Room Therapy - Counselling by Joanne Green are pleased to share that we’ve officially opened our new counselling space in Moorside, Oldham. Our diaries are now open and we’re currently scheduling appointments.

We’ve created a calm, welcoming environment designed to support meaningful therapeutic work within the local community. If you’ve been considering starting talking therapy, this could be a comfortable and supportive place to begin.

With both male and female counsellors available, we offer a range of perspectives and approaches to best support individual needs.

For any enquiries or to book an appointment, feel free to message either myself or Joanne 🌱💚

16/04/2026

Running the this Sunday to raise support for Side by Side Counselling; a volunteer-led counselling service providing free therapy to people who might not otherwise access it.

Every donation helps keep this going and makes a real difference 🤍

If you can support, here’s the link: https://square.link/u/z3Tmt6aX

14/04/2026

A little update on my new therapy space!

I’ve spent the weekend getting it ready, and it’s starting to feel really calm and welcoming.

Now open in Moorside, with a few new spaces available on Mondays and Fridays.

It feels like the start of a new chapter. I’m looking forward to what’s to come. 🌱💚

07/04/2026

With me, therapy is a space to be real, not fixed.

I’m James, a qualified psychotherapist offering a mindful, relational approach to counselling. I work primarily from a humanistic, person-centred foundation, integrating psychodynamic and existential ideas, with occasional CBT techniques where helpful. This means I tailor the work to you, focusing on patterns, self-awareness, and mindful change.

I believe growth often comes through a paradox: not everything needs to be changed. Experiences such as isolation, uncertainty, or meaninglessness aren’t always “solved” through technique, but explored, understood, and made sense of in a way that feels true to you.

Alongside support, I value gentle challenge; helping you reflect on patterns in yourself and your relationships. I also have a strong interest in how wider influences, such as culture, society, and diagnostic frameworks, can shape how we see ourselves, and where appropriate, we can explore this together.

I draw on approaches such as inner child work and two-chair dialogue to support deeper self-understanding, identity, and emotional processing.

📍 Now open in Oldham (Moorside Therapy Rooms)
🗓 Mondays & Fridays | 9am – 8pm
💻 Online sessions available
💷 £50 per session

If you’re looking for a space to explore, reflect, and create mindful change, feel free to get in touch.

Registered Member MBACP offering support for Abuse, ADD / ADHD, Addictions, Adoption, AIDS/HIV, Anger management, Anxiety, Baby loss, Bereavement, Body/somatic therapy, Cancer, Child related issues, Chronic fatigue syndrome / ME, Coercive control, Cultural issues, Depression, Disability, Eating diso...

03/04/2026

Really pleased to share that we’ll soon be opening a new counselling space in Moorside.

A calm, supportive environment offering accessible and affordable therapy for those who are seeking mental health support. This is something I’m pleased to be apart of and it’s exciting to bring it to the local Oldham community. If you’ve been thinking about starting counselling, this could be a gentle, comfortable first step. More details coming soon — watch this space!!

Mindful Changes Counselling and Psychotherapy

Green Room Therapy - Counselling by Joanne Green

10/03/2026

Julie Dawson is a counsellor offering creative wellbeing and walk and talk therapy in Mossley, Tameside Greater Manchester, near Saddleworth, Ashton -under- Lyne, Stalybridge, Oldham, Holmfirth and Marsden.

15/02/2026

Taking a moment of appreciation for the feedback my clients share.
Your words genuinely mean a lot and reinforce the love I have for this work. 💚

09/02/2026

I’ve always been fascinated by holistic approaches to mental health, especially where they sit alongside, not against, the medical model.

Research has repeatedly found that exercise can be as effective as antidepressant medication (including SSRIs) for many people with mild to moderate depression. Large randomised controlled trials (RCT) and meta-analyses show particularly strong effects for strength training, yoga, running, and moderate to high intensity gym-based exercise (e.g. BMJ, 2023; Cochrane Reviews).

The evidence proves both biological and psychological mechanisms; changes in brain chemistry and neuroplasticity, alongside improved regulation, routine, and sense of agency.

From a counselling perspective, this matters. Depression isn’t only cognitive; it’s often embodied.

This isn’t a message to stop medication or dismiss the medical model. Medication is essential. Exercise isn’t a cure-all either, but it is a legitimate, evidence-based intervention that deserves a place in the conversation.

Always consult your GP or mental health professional before making changes to treatment.

Key research & RCT sources 📚

• Noetel et al. (2023). BMJ — Network meta-analysis of 97 RCTs
• Schuch et al. (2016). Journal of Psychiatric Research — Exercise as treatment for depression
• Cooney et al. (2013). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews — Exercise vs antidepressants
• Kandola et al. (2020). Trends in Cognitive Sciences — Neurobiological mechanisms
• Stubbs et al. (2018). American Journal of Psychiatry — Exercise across mental disorders

02/02/2026

Two books every therapist (and client) should read, especially if they make you uncomfortable.

Bad Therapy (Abigail Shrier) and Against Therapy (Jeffrey Masson) both challenge a sacred assumption in our field: that therapy is inherently good, and that more therapeutic intervention equals more healing.

Shrier warns how modern therapy culture can:
• pathologise normal distress
• reinforce fragility rather than resilience
• reward symptom-talk over growth
• and unintentionally trap people in an identity of “being unwell”

Masson goes further, questioning whether therapy itself can become:
• subtly controlling rather than liberating
• driven by the therapist’s authority, theories, and interpretations
• disconnected from real-world change
• and more concerned with insight than truth or responsibility

What both books point to, admittedly uncomfortably, is this: therapy can make things worse when we as therapist lose humility.

As therapists, we work in uncertainty. There are no guarantees. No clean outcomes. And no ethical justification for certainty disguised as care.

For me, this reinforces why I practise with restraint:
• intervening less, not more
• trusting the client’s organismic wisdom
• staying alert to power, influence, and dependency
• and constantly asking: is this helping — or am I just doing therapy because I can?
• continuous analysis of my clinical work: reviewing notes, engaging in deep reflection, and applying critical ethical thinking. Making sense of my own values, beliefs, and biases, and recognising how these can shape or interfere with my practice

Being critical of therapy is not anti-therapy.
It’s a refusal to hide behind technique, identity, or good intentions.

29/01/2026

There’s a lot going on right now. 🌍

Socially. Politically. Economically. Emotionally.
And I keep noticing how many people come into therapy thinking they are the problem. 🧠

As I work on my dissertation, I keep returning to the idea of a sick society 🤒 one that asks us to keep going, stay productive, stay positive, stay regulated… although so much around us feels unsafe, disconnected, or overwhelming.
When I look in this context, anxiety, burnout, anger, numbness, and low mood don’t feel pathological. They feel understandable! 🤍

Therapy isn’t about fixing people so they can function better in a system that’s hurting them.
For me, it’s about slowing things down 🐢
Making space to feel 🌱
Helping someone make sense of their experience without rushing to change it.

Sometimes the work is about regulation and safety 🛟
Sometimes it’s about grief 💭
Sometimes it’s just about naming: this makes sense!!

If we’re living in a society that pulls us away from ourselves, therapy can be a quiet act of resistance ✊

A place where meaning, relationship, and compassion still matter ✨

18/01/2026

One key message from this video is that negative thoughts are habits.
They’re not impossible to change, but they do require CONSISTENT practice. That’s the most important part.

Dr Daniel Amen explains that negative thoughts don’t just stay in the mind; the body responds too. Tension, a racing heart, shallow breathing. When we believe a thought, the nervous system often reacts as if it’s true.

This fits closely with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), which understands our thoughts, emotions, physical sensations and behaviours as deeply connected.
A shift in one can influence the others.

Just like the exercise shown in the video, I often share, the aim isn’t about fighting thoughts, but slowing them down:
• Write the thought down: get it out of your head and onto paper
• Question it: Is it true? Is it absolutely true?
• Notice the impact: how does believing this thought affect how you feel, act, and respond physically?
• Imagine life without it: what might change if this thought wasn’t in charge?
• Turn it around: gently explore whether an alternative perspective could hold more truth

In CBT, these are called ANTs – Automatic Negative Thoughts. They show up quickly, feel convincing, and quietly shape how we experience ourselves and the world; even when they’re not entirely accurate.

In practice, we explore your personal ANT cycle: where the thought comes from, the meaning it holds for you, how it impacts your emotions and body, and how it influences your behaviour.
Through therapeutic work, we gently challenge these patterns and create space for new ways of responding.

Thoughts are not facts.
They’re information; signals the mind, not truths we have to obey.
They matter, especially when we believe them without question.