Castle Counselling Services

12/12/2024

Primal Trust Academy & Community with Dr. Cathleen King 🤍

12/12/2024

This time of year can be a lot so do yourself a solid and cut yourself some slack 💚
And lets never forget the wee donkey 🤣

10/12/2024

Particularly at this time of year, it's important to take care of yourself.

Self care isn't selfish. It means you're in a better position to look after others as well as yourself.

Cruse.org.uk

09/12/2024

Such a great reminder from as we face into the next few weeks. Often we apply extra pressure to ourselves and to children at this time of year when our capacity might already be close to full. A perceived expectation of all the joy and happiness that this time of year can bring can blind us to the relatives of all that we may be managing right now, go gently and know that it’s small moments of connection that matter, and that the next little while has a huge potential to add overwhelm to our lives.

09/12/2024

09/12/2024

08/12/2024

Hear hear 🙌🙌🙌🙌

Here's to the 💚

08/12/2024

It's time to hang up behaviours that make us feel low. 🧦

Let's do our best not to beat ourselves up with negative thoughts and build healthy habits that help us de-stress and maintain positive wellbeing.

07/12/2024

Lifeline is the Northern Ireland crisis response helpline service for people in distress or despair.

If you, or someone you know, is in distress or despair, call Lifeline free on 0808 808 8000

Textphone: 18001 0808 808 8000

Calls to Lifeline are answered by qualified counsellors who can provide immediate help and support.

Lines are open 24 hours a day, every day of the year Calls are free from all landlines and mobiles.www.lifelinehelpline.info

06/12/2024

Some days we rise and other days we rest ✨

Image: https://www.instagram.com/laurajaneillustrations

05/12/2024

I am grateful for the many diversions and road blocks I have encountered. Sometimes life can lead you to the most unexpected places if you let it 💭🙌✨

05/12/2024

An advent for your mind. Day 5: routes off the anxiety roundabout.

We’ve been living through anxious times recently-and then add in Christmas, and all that entails. That’s why it’s more important than ever to find ways off your anxiety roundabout.

When you get on the anxiety roundabout your body’s sympathetic nervous system escalates.... adrenaline and cortisol are released to get your body ready to run, hide or fight. This sets off a huge range of physiological sensations... tightened muscles, rapid breathing, shaky extremities, sweaty skin, redness rising, bowels constricting and many more. It doesn’t feel nice, but it’s just physiology... it’s your body using energy to meet its predicted needs and directing this energy in an attempt to be helpful. Noticing and understanding your signs can help you recognise you are on the anxiety rounding.

What you do at this point can push you further along anxiety roundabout, or it can help you find a route off. To get off the anxiety roundabout you need to find ways to deescalate the arousing sympathetic body system and try to engage the parasympathetic system instead, which helps calm things down.

It’s about doing something that changes your physiology.... exercise is great for this as it uses up that extra energy and triggers different chemicals that helps calm your body down, but there are lots of other ways to do this too. Usually these involve a shift in what you are doing, moving, shifting your attention, moving context or doing something to calm your body. What works for you will be unique to you... these are the ways you told me you got of the anxiety roundabout and some of the most common ways people find they can de-escalate their anxiety response and tap into their parasympathetic system to help change the physiological responses that are creating anxiety.

We can’t always stop being anxious (it’s human) and we need to recognise how we are feelings (and not shame ourselves for this). But we can also do lots of things to respond helpfully to our anxiety and find routes off the anxiety roundabout instead of circling further and further around it.