Shaun & Ellie Gray Counselling Weston-Super-Mare

01/09/2025

Self-care isn’t selfish - it’s the foundation that helps us show up with more energy, kindness and resilience for the people and causes we care about.

21/08/2025

Relationship counselling tips:
(Please contact Grays Counselling for couples or family counselling)

Stop Defending and Start Listening

In relationships, not every complaint is an attack. Sometimes it’s a cry for help. Stop defending yourself right away. Listen first. Understanding grows when you hear before you speak.

Defending shuts the door. Your partner feels unheard. They stop talking. Silence replaces honesty. And when silence takes over, connection fades. Listening keeps that door wide open.

You don’t have to agree with everything. But you can still listen with respect. Let them finish. Breathe. Then speak. This builds trust and makes hard talks easier.

Listening is love in action. It says, “You matter more than my ego.” It says, “I want to understand.” Defensiveness only proves you’re focused on winning, not healing.

Next time, pause. Hold back your defense. Lean in. Hear the pain behind the words. You’ll be amazed how many fights end - not with defense, but with understanding.

(Original post Dr. K. N. Jacob)

23/06/2025

11/06/2025

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/02/therapy-isnt-about-life-hacks-the-best-solutions-are-simpler-and-more-complex?

What we want is quick, clever fixes. What we need is quite different: the ability to tolerate intolerable feelings, to sustainably change and grow

11/06/2025

11/06/2025

This may be one of the most important conversations I have ever had on this podcast. And, I don’t say that lightly.

Did you know that nearly one in five UK adults - and almost one in four women - are currently taking antidepressants? Does that strike you as normal? And, if so, what does this tell us about our culture and what does it say about the way we ‘treat’ mental health disorders. Do 1 in 5 of us really have chemical imbalances that can only be fixed by pharmaceutical medication?

This week on my Feel Better, Live More podcast, I’m joined by psychiatrist, professor and author of the groundbreaking book Chemically Imbalanced: The Making and Unmaking of the Serotonin Myth, Joanna Moncrieff.

Joanna explains why the popular idea that depression is caused by a “chemical imbalance” in the brain isn’t backed by strong scientific evidence and how that idea, heavily shaped by pharmaceutical marketing in the 90s, has changed the way we understand mental health.

In our thought-provoking conversation, we cover:
👉🏾 Why the serotonin theory of depression doesn’t hold up to scrutiny
👉🏾 Side effects of SSRIs we rarely hear about
👉🏾 Why coming off antidepressants can be harder than many doctors realise
👉🏾 How we might support low mood with lifestyle changes, not just medication
👉🏾 And why our emotional responses might be signals to listen to, not symptoms to suppress
And More

This episode isn’t about telling anyone what to do - it’s about offering information to help you make truly informed choices.

Whether you’ve taken antidepressants, know someone who has, or are simply curious about how we treat mental health today, I think you’ll find this conversation both eye-opening and empowering.

🎧 Episode 563 is available now on my 'Feel Better, Live More' podcast

11/06/2025

09/06/2025

Today will simply be a day

18/05/2025

Let's declutter!

01/05/2025

We don't need to have it all figured out to find meaning in life.
There are lots of actions that can help you live with purpose.
The Meaningful May calendar is full of ways to focus more on what really matters. Please share it with others too.