Swan Consultancy

04/02/2025

Today is World Cancer Day. It is shocking that 1 in 2 of us will experience cancer at some point in our lives. It can be devastating physically and mentally. I wrote my book to help others to cope with the emotional impact of this disease. Although it is about my experience of breast cancer, the coping skills described are relevant to any type of cancer. I hope by sharing this it can help someone in their journey. Get 20% off by using the code Sarah at the checkout.

Paperback isbn: 9781914110221 £16.99 Pages: 180 Publication Date: July 17th 2023

18/09/2024

I am really looking forward to presenting this webinar for next month. A Disorder 4 Everyone is an organisation that challenges the culture of psychiatric diagnosis. This really fits with my experience of the emotional impact of breast cancer. I experienced a huge range of emotions and sometimes felt judged by the medical professionals I saw when displaying these. So I hope through this webinar I can normalise women's emotional response to such a diagnosis and the treatment journey and offer some psychological coping skills for those women and the people who care for them. This event is a 'pay what you can' event so I hope will be accessible for anyone. Please share in case there is anyone in your network who may benefit.

Sarah shares her personal experience of breast cancer and the Acceptance & Commitment Therapy skills she utilised to manage her feelings.

17/09/2024

It is an honour to have been series author for this latest publication in the Coping With series. Congratulations to Dr Momotaj Islam DClinPsych, CPsychol AFBPsS who has condensed huge amounts of research and personal experience into this informative self-help book for women in the peri-menopausal years. It is a fantastic addition to the menopause literature.

Delighted to announce the next book in the “Coping With” series!

Coping With Menopause by Dr Momotaj Islam.

Publishing Dec 10th, use code Preorder20 for 20% discount!

Full details:

www.sequoia-books.com/catalog/islam

11/07/2024

Lovely to be able to speak at a local event. So good that CYC-D are supporting mental as well as physical health. Thank you CYC-D for inviting me to share my personal and professional experience of the Acceptance & Commitment Therapy approach to emotional wellbeing.

We are super excited to announce that we have the incredible Dr Sarah Swan joining us next Sunday 14th July to deliver an enlightening session on mental health.

“An Acceptance & Commitment Approach to Improving Your Mental Health”

The message in popular culture is often that we should “be happy” and “think positive”. In this workshop, Dr Sarah Swan, a Haslemere based clinical psychologist will talk about how this could be an unhelpful way of approaching our emotional wellbeing. Rather than denying or pushing away our unpleasant thoughts and feelings, Sarah’s approach encourages us to connect with and accept them. It helps us to find ways to step back from unhelpful thought patterns and reflect on what is important to us. By doing so, we can then take steps towards living a meaningful life, without being held back by self-limiting thoughts and difficult feelings. In this workshop, Sarah will share her own experiences of using this approach to manage challenges in her own life, as well as teaching some strategies to help you put the approach into practice.

Dr Sarah Swan of www.swanconsultancy.co.uk offers psychological therapy to adults with a range of difficulties, as well as bespoke mental health interventions for businesses and organisations and we are delighted that she will be sharing her knowledge with us at CYC:DFEST ❤️️

Check out the full weekend CYC:DFEST SCHEDULE here and get booking ⚡️

03/07/2024

I am delighted to be speaking on mental health at this event in Haslemere on 14th July. Sign up now if you are local!

18/06/2024

I am delighted to now offer intensive EMDR. Rather than the typical weekly sessions, this is delivered as three long sessions in the course of a single week. This can be more convenient and also enable you to achieve quicker results. I explain more in this blog. Do get in touch if you want to think about whether this might be helpful for you.

Typically, therapy is conducted on the basis of a single session per week. There are many reasons why this is often the most effective approach, such as giving the individual time to reflect on what the session has brought up and putting into practice techniques for self-management that are being ta...

14/06/2024

It was really lovely to chat with Catriona Williams from TalkHealth. In this snippet I talk about the Coping With series of books, of which my book on breast cancer was the first. All written by clinical psychologists with lived experience of facing particular challenges. I think it is a unique perspective that can hopefully help many other people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnFlX4-2DBE

12/06/2024

It can be difficult to know how to support someone going through a difficult time. This video is really helpful, not just in responding to those with secondary breast cancer, but also much applies to supporting those with primary breast cancer or indeed other serious health conditions.

Few patients inhabit a social vacuum so a diagnosis of advanced or metastatic disease can be traumatic for their families and friends. Patients need the supp...

04/06/2024

I am again feeling honoured today as I have been featured in the British Medical Journal, providing an overview of my career journey as a clinical psychologist! I am so pleased I chose this career; it is one that still brings me a sense of achievement, enjoyment and fulfilment.

Sarah Swan: My Working Life as a Clinical Psychologist - read this article along with other careers information, tips and advice on BMJ Health Careers - Mental Health

23/05/2024

Delighted to have been invited to talk about my book and how an Acceptance & commitment therapy approach can help us to cope with the emotional impact of breast cancer and in fact any difficult life event. Great to do an in-person event. It’s been so long!!! Thank you Breast Cancer Now!

21/05/2024

The world of counselling/therapy/psychology is a very confusing one! There are so many people who offer mental health support and it is difficult to know who to go to. Each type of approach has its place, but they are different. It concerns me when people have tried one type of approach that they didn't find helpful and then assume all approaches will be the same. What a counsellor offers is very different to a registered psychologist, for example. It is also important to know that psychologists registered with the Health & Care Professions Council, such as clinical and counselling psychologists, are one of the few that are actually regulated. I have explained some of the differences between counsellors and registered psychologists here:

There are a number of different professionals who provide counselling and talking therapies and it can be difficult to understand the differences. ‘Counselling’ is a term that is often used to describe the process of talking to a mental health professional but can look quite different in practic...