Nicole Berry Counselling & Therapy Services

03/02/2026

Rough seas today. The kind that mirror how things can feel inside. My ribs still aching, the wind relentless, the water wild.

And then this quiet moment — another of my wonderful clients, bringing us both a warm drink. No big words. No fixing. Just kindness.

This is the work.

Learning that strength isn’t pushing through pain. It’s allowing ourselves to be supported. Letting care be shared, not earned.

The sea doesn’t always meet us gently. Sometimes it’s loud and messy and unpredictable — and still, we show up. Still, something healing happens.

Even on the rough days 🙏 🌊 🙏

02/02/2026

A robin singing into the wind this morning.

Grief stays, but so does love. And some days, that love sounds like birdsong 🙏 🎵 💕

02/02/2026

Stressful meetings, intense conversations, therapy sessions, and any other emotional situation should involve walking. Either during or after. Walking is the body’s most natural way of regulating and processing emotions. It’s how we make sense of what happens to us. The next time you have to talk about something hard, do it while you walk. The next time you need to make an important decision walk on it before you decide

01/02/2026

31/01/2026

The end of January.
A time to soften the grip of survival mode.
To breathe a little deeper.
To remind yourself that even slow steps are still movement forward 🙏❤️🙏

31/01/2026

"When we can find a way and a therapist to explore our thoughts, our feelings and our behaviours, we can then begin to understand what our challenges are, and then it gives us choices and directions."

Fantastic to see Odette Hamilton and Julia Samuel on BBC Breakfast this morning. They raised so many important points about therapy and encouraged women over 50 to seek professional support if they're struggling, as part of our No More Stiff Upper Lip campaign.

Odette spoke about her own experience of therapy, how it helped her to a 'better place' and why it's a good idea to get help when you need it and not leave things piling up on you.

Julia told viewers how speaking to a therapist is different to talking to friends and urged people to look for a therapist from a professional body, such as BACP.

Watch the full interview on BBC iPlayer here (from 7:20) https://orlo.uk/ndbFC

30/01/2026

When my client brought their own mugs and poured us herbal tea this morning, I noticed a little role reversal — normally I’m the one providing the drinks, but with my unfortunate broken ribs preventing me from carrying my usual thermos and cups, they stepped in and took the lead. It was a small moment, but it highlighted how care can be mutual, and even simple acts like sharing tea can shift dynamics in meaningful ways. 🙏

28/01/2026

If you’ve spent a long time trying to help someone understand how they hurt you, this might land gently today.

When someone lives in denial, they often can’t meet your truth — not because you didn’t explain it well enough, but because they don’t have the capacity to see it. And that can be incredibly painful.

Healing doesn’t come from trying harder to be understood by someone who can’t acknowledge your experience. It begins when you slowly turn back towards yourself — validating what you felt, trusting your own knowing, and offering yourself the care you were seeking elsewhere.

This isn’t about bitterness or shutting down. It’s about reclaiming your energy, your voice, and your sense of safety. It’s about realising that you don’t need their understanding in order to heal.

For many people, this moment is quietly hopeful — the start of choosing peace, self-compassion, and a future that isn’t shaped by someone else’s denial.

Healing can begin here. With you 🙏❤️🙏

27/01/2026

A memory popped up on my phone today and it really made me pause.

It took me back to my time working in children’s services, when I was leading the Lifelong Links pilot in Devon — supporting children in care to reconnect with the people who mattered to them, often when family networks had been lost, fractured, or felt out of reach.

One moment that stays with me is taking a young child in care to the Houses of Parliament to speak about why those connections matter. Standing beside them as they shared, in their own words, how important it was to be reconnected with significant adults in their life — people who knew their story, remembered them, and could be there for them beyond the care system.

Lifelong Links, developed by the Family Rights Group, was never just about mapping family trees. It was about identity, belonging, and making sure no child grows up feeling they are alone. That day, I had the privilege of meeting Isobel Trowler, the Chief Social Worker for Children, and talking about why this work mattered — not just in policy, but in the lived experience of children and young people.

What I remember most is the young person beside me. Brave. Thoughtful. Being truly heard.

Looking back now, I can see how much that work shaped me and continues to inform the work I do today. Whether in children’s services then, or in my therapeutic work now, the belief remains the same: relationships matter, connection matters, and being seen can change everything 🙏❤️🙏