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~* Counselling Services (BACP registered) *~
~* Mental Health & Su***de Prevention Training *~
~* Wellness Resources *~

10/10/2025

🌏A Poem: WMHD🌏

Today is World Mental Health Day, this number has been in my drafts a little while but it felt appropriate to share.

emotions are funny old things, swallowing us at times, it can feel like we’ll never feel differently. We try to pigeonhole them “anger is bad” “envy is bad”.
But when we stop giving them a label & start listening to them they can tell us all sorts of information.

Sometimes rage is hurt, sometimes something is so hard to feel that it expresses itself in a particular way.

This is just a gentle reminder that how you feel is neither “good” nor “bad” it’s simply a feeling & when we spend time & ask it about what it needs to tell us, it often has lots to say.

Take care of yourself today (& everyday) because you are precious 💜

07/10/2025

🍂October Update🍂

I don't often do this, but I've already reached out to those who I'm working with to update them about capacity over Autumn.

Due to increased teaching commitments and medical appointments some of my usual daytime availability has been impacted; to help offset this over October I have temporarily opened my diary to include client work on Fridays.

Things should return to normal come November 🙂

Kiri 💜

28/09/2025

💜words for the week ahead💜

Hoping something resonates; take what you need, leave whatever you don’t behind.

22/09/2025

🌑Journal Prompts🌑

Journal prompts to support you through last nights New Moon in Virgo.

18/09/2025

🌑New Moon Workshop🌑

This Sunday join Megan and I for our *online* New Moon Workshop from 7-8pm.

Be gently guided through this powerful solar eclipse with New Moon in Virgo.

Explore shadows, releases and resets with a guided meditation and deep reflection.

Come as you are, jammies and a cuppa - there's no pressure to share or be anything other than yourself during our sessions.

This event is free but we do appreciate donations if you're able to; suggested donation is £5
Drop us a DM to secure your spot

08/09/2025

🏝️How to Be🏝️

A follow on from ‘doing’, ‘being’ takes practise

Its ok if slowing down and being has felt scary, it’s ok if it’s difficult, it’s ok to ‘titrate’ into the experience. We’re learning a new skill, and like every new skill it takes time.

Tips:
🏝️practise recalling a warm / good memory, or create a visualisation of somewhere that feels good & safe
🏝️use sensory items: smell, touch, taste to activate (bring energy) or deactivate (bring calm)
🏝️practise grounding: whether that’s standing, sitting or laying down - focus on how we are ‘held’ / ‘supported’ by the ground. Or focus on sensations where our body touches the ground.
🏝️mindfulness: notice shapes, colours, textures, smells in the room

*while moving into ‘being’ can be helpful, I recommend being guided / led by a mental health professional. ‘Being’ can be scary and it’s helpful to have someone who you can process that with.

04/09/2025

📆Doing📆

‘Doing’ can be how we cope: distraction, busy-ness, never standing still, struggling to relax

But the art of doing is often acquired, it’s an adaptation we have made because being busy is safer than just being

I hate the word avoidance (although I’ve used it in this post); but doing can be about survival

Staying still, relaxing, being - can all feel terrifying when our internal world is chaos - so instead we ‘do’

05/08/2025

🚶‍♂️The Benefits of Forward Motion🚶‍♀️

You'll have seen my stories recently, I've been trying to move my body more as a way to support processing and emotional wellbeing.

The neuroscience & research behind movement is extensive - both to down-regulate and up-regulate our nervous system.

Forward motion is a powerful tool we can include in our toolbox as a way of processing events, experiences and emotions and it doesn't have to be intense, it can be cycling or walking.

12/06/2025

I have spent the last 2-3 days in a state of sadness & rage watching neighbours & communities live in fear as my community wraps up racism in a guise of ‘protecting women & girls’

My space is safe here if you need it 💜

27/05/2025

🎁Teacher / End of Year Gifts🎁

I have some limited stock remaining of my Mindful Memo Notepads - these are on sale for £4.

A5, 100 page notepad suitable for popping in your bag or on your desk.

Incorporates space for your own:
✨ affirmation
✨mood tracker
✨gratitude diary
✨habit tracker
✨busy mind doodle space
✨5 Senses grounding technique

These have made lovely end of year gifts for teaching and support staff, I only have around 10-15 of these left - drop me a DM if you'd like one. P&P extra.

23/05/2025

🛟Regulation Bingo: Agitated State Edition🛟

Let's Play Regulation Bingo

Polyvagal theory acknowledges our neurophysiological responses to stress; it theorises 3 states: hyperarousal (agitation), hypoarousal (collapse) and rest.

Imagine your nervous system like a thermometer, our comfortable temperature (window of tolerance) will be unique to us; as the temperature rises (moving towards agitation) we'll have unique sensations and emotions. As it drops (moving into collapse) we'll experience unique sensations and emotions.
There are some exercises that we can do as our temperatures shift to bring us back into our window of tolerance.

Agitation can *feel* like needing to move our bodies - like there's so much pent up energy and we need to either beat the s**t out of something, or flee. It's energy. It's intense (when the temperature is hot) and we *need* release so...

Here are some for agitation (entering into hyperarousal):
✨count backwards in 7s
✨scream into a pillow
✨hold ice on wrists
✨box breathing
✨listen to birdsong
✨psychological sigh
✨punch a pillow
✨stamp feet on carpet (or pillow)
✨barefoot outside

Try the activities for 30 seconds to start.
Be mindful, if and where you can with the activity - notice the physical sensations of screaming into the pillow, for example: what do my vocal cords feel like, the temperature of the pillow when I scream, the rasp in my voice, the energy leaving my body.
If one doesn't work, don't be disheartened... try another; pause - breathe and go again.

As our nervous systems regulate, our cortex lights back up again (it switches off when we enter these states and we are wholly manned by our back brain (emotions)) - we connect back to reason, rationale and logic.

I'll pop some regulation bingo cards on my website as a downloadable resource at some point for you to include in your own toolkit 🙂

15/05/2025

🖊Creative Writing🖊

Creative writing, poetry, storytelling... art.. art in any form is incredibly therapeutic. We can connect more deeply with our feeling parts when we connect pen to paper.

Research completed by Baikie and Wilhelm (2005)(1) deduced that writing about stressful and traumatic events can improve both physical and mental health both in clinical and non-clinical environments.

When I am low or anxious I find myself more drawn to poetry and writing as a way of articulating and processing what I am experiencing.

Caleshu, Waterman and Kemp (2023) who completed research on the impact of poetry on mental health during Covid reported respondents "feeling closer to others, feeling better able to process their feeling about the pandemic, feeling less isolated and finding solace"(2)

Here is one of my more cheerier poems, inspired by beautiful women in flowing Spring dresses, surrounded by friendship and feminine music 💜

(1)Baikie, K.A. and Wilhelm, K. (2005) 'Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing,' Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 11(5), pp. 338–346. https://doi.org/10.1192/apt.11.5.338.

Caleshu, A., Waterman, R. and Kemp, S. (2023) 'Poetry and COVID-19: the benefit of poetry and the poetryandcovidarchive.com website to mental health and wellbeing,' Journal of Poetry Therapy, 37(3), pp. 198–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/08893675.2023.2250921.

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