The Power of Play

13/04/2026

31/03/2026

Trust the process! The experience of feel knowing.

23/03/2026

So happy to welcome you to my new setting, based at Lift and Empower CIC.

This new space means that together we can explore lots of interesting and curious things to play with, even an indoor swing.

17/03/2026

It is official, we have found our forever Saturday home at Lift and Empower CIC. Look out for a video walk around, at a carefully curated space for children and adolescents to explore their therapeutic process.

13/03/2026

13/03/2026

The welcomes some new members 's

13/02/2026

The Government's announced a one-year £7 million funding boost for Early Support Hubs. This will help thousands of 11 to 25 year olds access free, community-based mental health support without needing a GP referral.

It's a move we’ve campaigned for as a member of the Fund the Hubs group.

But longer-term funding is crucial to ensure greater benefits for young people in need and the practitioners who work for these hubs.

Read more here 👉 https://orlo.uk/ghsE8

03/02/2026

Self Care

You're told to have some self-care but what do you do when you just don't have the capacity?

As a therapist, parent, and human being, I know and you know that doing good things for ourselves is good for us. It's pretty instinctive to seek out enriching and fulfilling experiences - a favourite TV show, comfort food - I'm not saying we all seek the same but we get it, we need it and it feels good.

There are times in our lives when it just isn’t going to happen, most likely when we need it the most but circumstances dictate otherwise. Things change and it doesn’t feel like a priority or it isn't possible to give ourselves permission to, even though we know we 'should'.

So, what happens when self-care isn't what we can give ourselves? What happens when self-care actually feels like 'another thing to do'? What happens when it’s the thing everyone else tells us to do, but if we don’t, it’s our own fault that we are where we are? Everyone is saying, 'SELF-CARE!' but this often well meaning advice just creates an echo, reminding us of our feelings of failure.

Those thoughts are far from what we need. So, here's a bold option. What if we simply said, “Yep, self-care is good. Right now though, it's not where I am. And that is okay."

There are times when I can see that a parent doesn't have the capacity for self-care. For me, the greatest respect to our relationship is to acknowledge that they can’t and to not suggest it; to not recommend having a cup of tea, painting their nails or ‘justing doing something nice for themselves’. To do otherwise would say, "I see you, but I'll ignore it." Nothing minimises a sh*tty, sh*tty time like someone preaching self-care; sure, if I had capacity but I don’t.

Stepping outside the familiar narrative is a powerful place to be with someone. You are authentically seeing them and hearing them in the now. Sometimes we have to be bold and not state the bloody obvious!

13/01/2026

Play isn't just for children. To be playful has medicinal benefits for adults, too.

Over the Christmas period, there was a moment when I thought that I might have ended the party earlier than I wanted. I had invited my family over. There were festivities to be had, which of course required some music, because we are rhythmic beings, but that is
another post! I hadn't charged the Bluetooth speaker, then I accidentally fried the speakers. No speaker, no music! Then, my sister suggested putting the phone in a jug. So, we had ourselves a homemade speaker! We had homemade laughter. We had creativity and playfulness and we had connections

In that moment we would have had an increase in our oxytocin, a hormone that is released when we play, particularly with others, as well as other feel-good hormones. Oxytocin improves our mood, strengthens social bonds and builds trust. In that ‘phone in a jug’
moment these attachments with each other were heightened.

Being creative and playful does not need to cost lots of money. In fact. it is likely to be more memorable and fun when it doesn’t. We don't have to be bound by finances. Play does not judge you on make or
model, it just is.

Next time, when things don’t quite work out, apply a playful lens and see what you can make from it.