Nik Bisbey Therapy & Coaching

23/07/2025

Why are we so impressed by someone reaching out publicly for therapeutic or coaching support, yet we’re still reluctant to do it ourselves?

😳Are we embarrassed that we might need to improve our mental fitness?
🏋️Yet we’ll ask for PT recommendations for our physical fitness.

🥺Are we too ashamed to admit that we need to improve our emotional intelligence?
📖Yet we’ll show off about our academic achievements and podcast downloads!

🙄Are you concerned that you might be judged?
🕺But you’ll post your weekend shenanigans on FB for all to see!

This was prompted by a guy on LinkedIn asking for recommendations for a coach or therapist (me, me! 👋 I’m both and unashamedly loving it!).

In the States and other countries, having a therapist and/or coach is not just normalised, but is applauded.

🔷It shows a commitment to bettering oneself, that we’re works in progress, and emotionally intelligent.
🔷Mental dexterity and fitness is a skill that must be developed and managed.
🔷Creative thinking can be strengthened, developed, and honed!
🔷We can literally train our minds to greater experiences of joy, improved decision making, better communications, and improved stress management.

🌏Why on EARTH would you NOT do it?!

12/07/2025

This one sneaks up behind you.

When you’re doing okay, it emerges because it needs more attention.
When you’re stressed, tired, overloaded, it emerges because you don’t have the resilience to keep it down.

Remember, it’s okay to be sad about something you thought you had healed from.

Healing happens on multiple levels and all of those levels need to be satisfied before it will truly leave you.

Just for the briefest moment, think about the one thing you almost but didn’t quite heal from yet.

Now, decide to do something about it because it’s still taking up your time and energy.

Photo credit: on instagram

11/07/2025

Feeling disconnected even when you’re not technically alone?

It’s increasingly common and it's a big problem.

Life gives us messages and meetings but rarely do we get the truly deep connections we really need.

Part 8 of my Depression Reframe Series is now live and it’s all about how social disconnection affects your mood, what your brain needs to feel safe with others, and how small, meaningful shifts can make a big difference.

💬 Simple ways to reconnect (even if you’re not super social)

🧠 The brain science behind trust, loneliness & mood

🌿 Why people with ADHD or sensory sensitivity might need a different rhythm of connection

🌟 How coaching and hypnotherapy can support your confidence and ease

08/07/2025

One of our biggest problems around grief in the UK is that we don’t understand it.

We don’t know what’s coming.
We don’t know how to respond to our feelings of grief.
We don’t know how to express what it feels like.
We don’t know how to reach out for help because we don’t know what help we need.

Richard E Grant has done us a tremendous service by recording his experience and this short article gives us a small insight into what he’s offered.
I wish we could all learn about grief.
It’s inevitable that it will visit us all at some stage of our lives. If you know someone who is experiencing grief, learn about it try to understand it. Be available for them. It can be deeply debilitating but there can be high points, both of which can be destabilising. Your presence, your influence can mean everything to a person who is feeling loss. 

If someone is really struggling, please encourage them to get some help. This is not something we should be navigating alone.

After his wife, Joan, died two years ago, Richard E. Grant began to post videos of himself talking about his bereavement on Instagram, creating a remarkable record of life after loss, Sophie Gilbert writes. https://theatln.tc/hoH3dF0e

An online community quickly formed around Grant’s videos. This month, he published a memoir chronicling the triumphs and hardships of his career, marriage, and journey with grief. The book, “A Pocketful of Happiness,” is titled after an edict that his wife gave him before she died, a reminder to seek out small moments of joy every day.

“She’d never come up with this phrase before in our marriage,” Grant told Gilbert. “I think if one of us had ever said it, we’d have concluded it sounded like something from a Hallmark card. But it’s proved to be a very profound mantra from which to live.”

“[Grant’s] willingness to perform an experience so typically understood as private—to so energetically upend our sense that the ‘right’ way to get through it is stoically, and alone—is striking,” Gilbert continues. “He’s dismissive of the unspoken tradition of giving people space in the immediate aftermath of bereavement, the very ‘time that you need people to talk to.’”

He still has, he tells Gilbert, days where he is so “poleaxed” by grief that the only thing to do is submit to it and wait for it to pass, but, she writes, “he also has good days, splendid days, days with happiness by the bucketload.”

📷: Sophia Spring / Guardian / eyevine / Redux

05/07/2025

I spent some time yesterday at the fabulous Health Studios at Bagendon, near Cirencester.
It’s a fantastic new therapy centre, within easy reach of the Cotswold District villages, Cirencester, and a quick hop from Cheltenham via the 417.

It’s a truly sumptuous space, feeling less like a therapy centre and more like a comfortable home, with each consulting room having its own character and relaxing ‘lounge’ feel.

I’m thrilled to be offering my services from here, with daytime and evening sessions available now.

Coaching and Hypnotherapy sessions are still available from my office in Stroud, and online.
You can book a free consultation to find out how my blend of Solution Focused Hypnotherapy and Neuroscience-based Coaching can help you to move forward in life, past old patterns and habits, and into a life that feels more fulfilling and a much better fit for you.

Are you hypno-curious or ready to create a clearer path toward?

04/07/2025

Just popping on to tell you something
VERY IMPORTANT!

It’s okay to give up.

If it’s too hard, the physical, mental, or emotional cost is too great, it’ll take too long, or your HEART IS JUST NOT IN IT.

You can give up. Or just take a break.

You’re not FAILING! You’re WINNING!

You’re voting for you! You’re claiming back your strength, you’re creating boundaries, you’re MAKING SPACE in your life for the things that ARE right for you.

Oh. 😬

Look at all those CAPITALS!
I think this turned into a rant!

But what if you’re conflicted?

Well, we’ve got this great new strategy called Multiple Brain Integration Technique, mBIT for short.
It’s a coaching strategy that helps to align your rational mind with your hearts’ desires and your gut instincts.

It helps you to make much BETTER SENSE of the things that leave you feeling conflicted!

I’m so excited by this technique. We can get into the really good stuff right from the FIRST SESSION!

Sorry for the terrible pic. I just saw that post and it triggered me to rant! She danced like crazy after wiping away tears. And it looks like she’s wearing weights. I’m sure it’s entirely normal for them.

(Of course, never give up if you love it and it means the world! I’m as stubborn as a mule, so giving up is not a normal choice for me. Unless it’s right on multiple levels!)

04/07/2025

Wow!
I know a lot of my friends and clients put pressure on themselves and negatively judge themselves for ‘not being as good’ as they think they ‘should’ be, not getting enough done, not being ‘consistent’ enough.

The negative self-talk, particularly amongst the self-employed and people in leadership roles, can be astonishingly bad! And, you know, really detrimental to their wellbeing.

This study by the women’s cycling team has highlighted the benefits of working ‘with’ your monthly cycle and understanding the needs of your body and your mind throughout each month.

For those going through transitions such as hormone treatment, peri-menopause, menopause, etc. working with your body on a daily basis is even better still.

We really don’t know enough about how this all works, but imagine that body needs different nutrients to feed different functions. One day, or week, could be a need for increased magnesium or iron, the next could be additional protein, or complex carbs.
One day, metabolism could be slow, and a few days later, it’s sped up again and you’re famished!
The same goes for your executive function and energy output.

You need to learn to LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! And respect what it has to say, what it’s asking for.
And I’m sorry, if it’s asking for ice-cream and longer lie-in’s, that may not be your body talking! (That’s a part of your brain that has a whole other agenda!)

For men, there tends to be more consistency since they don’t cycle in this same way.

It’s really helpful to remind yourself that your energy and focus will fluctuate. Use an app like Moody or Flo, or a paper calendar to track your energy and mood. It all becomes so much more normal and makes waaay more sense once you start tracking!

If you’re struggling with mental health challenges or digestive problems like IBS, or are additionally sensitive to moon cycles, this adds another layer. It can be quite straightforward to separate them out though.

DM me if you’d like to chat through any of this.
🙂

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03/07/2025

Do you get decision fatigue?

How would you know if you experienced it?

Decisions fatigue is not a clinical diagnosis, but it is something that can absolutely cause a spike in cortisol.
You’ll know you’ve had it if:

“Anyone asks me any more questions, I’m going to explode”

Or, the slightly subtler version that messes with your head a bit more:

“What did you say? Did you ask me something? What was the last question? Did I already answer that?” Confusion and brain fog!

It’s something that I’ve got to know pretty well, with two teens, various animals, lettings, renovations, and my own business to run, there are a kazillion decisions to be made every day. So when it comes to what to make for dinner, or even what do wear, I feel like I’ve run out of decision vouchers. There’s nothing left.

By recognising the symptoms of decision fatigue in my own life, I know that all I need to do is to take a few minutes and remove the pressure.
Or go for an easy choice; don’t overthink it (no, they probably won’t all want to eat what I’m cooking, but they know where to find the fridge!).

That pause is so important. Especially when it comes to emotive choices. If you’re making difficult decisions or you’re feeling under pressure, you’ll get a cortisol spike that can make you feel like you want to run and hide, or blow up at someone.

But it’s not always the difficult decisions that cause a spike, it can just be that last little one. That ‘too many decisions now’ moment!

Fatigue, poor diet, or lack of exercise can also contribute to an inability to maintain clarity.

Could decision fatigue be contributing to your elevated stress or lack of motivation?

Where in your life are too many decisions becoming a problem?

28/06/2025

I’ve just read an insightful newsletter. It talks about small changes you can make to help yourself to avoid chronic health conditions, such as improving your sleep.
It speaks to the problem and offers simple solutions.

🥱

As if you didn’t know that eating healthier foods, getting better sleep, and exercising daily would be beneficial!

🏃‍♀️

I’m glad the conversation is live about how you can help yourself. But we need more now than just stating the obvious!

Did the writer (perhaps a healthy and active writer) understand just how hard those small changes can be?

I’ve recently published an article about sleep, and it comes from the perspective of someone who experienced many years of frustrating sleep procrastination, and those ‘gasping for air’ anxiety wake-ups at 3 am.

…

Struggling to fall asleep—even when you’re exhausted? 😴

Sleep disruption is one of the most overlooked contributors to low mood and burnout. From racing thoughts at bedtime to late-night scrolling (yep, that’s ‘sleep procrastination’), and 3 am wake-ups, poor sleep can really mess with your brain’s ability to reset and restore.

In Part 7 of my blog series on depression, we explore:

🧠 What actually happens in your brain when sleep breaks down

🌙 Why things like cortisol and REM sleep matter more than we realise

✨ How subtle support like hypnotherapy and coaching can gently support you in finding and activating the right solutions for you.

📖Read my latest blog for more insight (link below 👇🏼)

📞 Book a free Zoom call if you’d like to
discover how I can help you with better sleep and brighter mornings.