Katie Caulfield Counselling

09/02/2024

How was your summer?

Just a parenting reality check for you all.

When you see the summer holiday photo dumps, remember not every moment of everyone’s summer looked as happy, as wholesome, as beautiful as the photos suggest.

Social media lulls us into a false sense of FAILURE…a lot of the time.

It warms my heart to see photos of the people I care about having a lovely time with their families and friends. I think there’s a place for sharing this kind of content but often we can end up believing that everyone else is having a wonderful time ALL of the time and we forget that we are only viewing a snapshot and a curated, happy snapshot at that.

My honest truth…I have posted a beautiful photo from my summer holiday. And that vista was even more beautiful in real life. It was breathtaking. But that was one moment. The reality…it also rained. I couldn’t sleep at times because my anxiety has been bad and that impacted on how present I felt with my children. I struggled with childcare at other times. I battled with my own issues with asking for help and I felt guilty when I had to work or when I needed time for me.

If your summer felt hard, if you felt you were not with your children because of work or money worries…or you were missing or felt absent from the memory moments because you were anxious or exhausted or have other mental health concerns YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

If you are in need of support at the moment, if you are frazzled by the long summer juggle of work and childcare, now might be the time to invest in you.
Take a look at my website www.katiecaulfieldcounselling.co.uk for information about the work that I do.

09/01/2024

A journal prompt to kickstart your September…

09/01/2024

Life can sometimes feel full of new beginnings. A new job or a new relationship…or sometimes it’s just a new season that brings new projects or a change in routine for you or those you care for.

Sometimes change can be something we relish. A welcome relief from a rut we’ve found ourselves in or the seemingly endless rinse and repeat of the familiar.

Or change can be an intimidating prospect. A stressor that we don’t welcome when the rhythm of our life is upended and we feel a sense of dread at the impending strangeness we’ll have to navigate.

Or maybe we feel a mixture of the two. A sort of nervous excitement. The thrill of abandoning the familiar and an embracing of the newness that might just invigorate us alongside a deep down yearning for things to return to the way they were.

A new beginning can often mean we are also experiencing loss or losses. Maybe we are leaving behind some dearly loved colleagues. Maybe we are leaving behind a single life that we fully embraced for all its liberating qualities. Maybe we miss the routine that allowed us more quality time with our children. Or maybe our children have moved away and we just miss them.

Whatever your new beginning brings up for you…how do you intend to look after your emotional well-being? Can you allow time for yourself to feel whatever may come up as you navigate through the uncertainty of change?

When we are caught up in the excitement of our new beginning things can feel frenetic and out of control. Or if change is a particular stressor for you, maybe it’s more important than ever to ensure that you have the support you need in place before, during and after the change takes place.

Therapy can provide you with that space during your week to take stock. To ponder the positive aspects of the change that is occurring in your life alongside that yearning for the familiar. Or to help you plan for the change and ensure that you are looking after those parts of yourself that might show up as you navigate the change.

07/28/2024

Please check out my new website:

www.katiecaulfieldcounselling.co.uk

Please feel free to recommend my services to your contacts, friends and family.

Many thanks

Katie

Katie Caulfield Counselling, Counselling and Hypnotherapy services in Sale, Greater Manchester

06/11/2024

A little update on what I’ve been up to…

I completed my Level 4 Diploma in Counselling Skills and Theory. This is the second year of a three-year course for me to become a Counsellor. The emotional education this has given me has been BIG…HUGE.

Every time I open a book about psychotherapy (and currently all books that I read are about therapy and self-development) I am challenged to look at parts of myself that I haven’t wanted to examine. Every time I complete an assignment I am forced to look at my past in ways that I haven’t before. I think about how therapeutic relationships work and what might make them a success and what might cause them to breakdown.

There have been tears. There has been disturbed sleep. There have been angry outbursts. There have been friendships that have deepened. I have coped better with change. I have faced challenges in my life with greater self-awareness and greater self-compassion.

I am just coming to the end of my training with Cruse Bereavement Support to become a Bereavement Volunteer and my learning about grief enhances and enriches my life.

I am about to begin my placement where I will complete my 100 placement hours over the next 12 months.

This time last year I didn’t expect to have left the legal sector and to be able to commit the time I currently can to developing my own business and exploring the voluntary opportunities that I am now committing to. I didn’t plan to be doing things this way but here I am.

I have connected with old friends.

I have seen other friends more regularly.

I have had a recent health scare which I am now on the other side of.

In the last twelve months I have been in therapy myself, left it and I’m just about to return. I will always have to ensure that I have therapy when I feel that I need it.

I have been learning how to rest and how to take things slowly. How to reflect on myself and how to better care for myself. It is taking time and I don’t always get it right. I face a - pretty much - daily battle with anxiety that things have not happened as they should or that they are not happening quick enough. I am learning to go with the flow, learning to trust my instincts, trust my plan. I’m learning to trust in my own resilience.

In terms of next steps for my own personal development I’m hoping to write more often…both creatively and in a reflective way. I intend to also create more artistically, and this may mean just painting something alongside my writing. I’ll be reading more. All of these things serve the quiet, introspective parts of myself and my creative side as well. They also serve as self-care which I am not very good at. As I work with more clients (both voluntarily and in my private hypnotherapy practice), getting better at this will be imperative.

Here’s a photo taken of Pendle Hill…which I took while off grid at the weekend…taking care of myself after completing my final assignments for this academic year.

04/09/2024

Taking place today at 10.30am…my FREE group guided meditation at Hiya in Stanley Square

04/02/2024

This is only a week away! A FREE group guided meditation taking place in the lovely community space at Hiya in Stanley Square. Please join me for The Calm Hour.

03/12/2024

Affirmations are statements you can make to yourself. Repeat the following statements to yourself (out loud or in your mind). You could also write them out and stick it on your wall or in your diary so that you keep returning to them and repeat them again.

❤️ I pay attention to my emotions and how they feel in my body

❤️ I notice the thoughts and behaviours that may arise as a result of these feelings, without judgement

❤️ Giving myself time to feel my emotions and allowing them space and time to move through me is valuable work

03/09/2024

Mother’s Day can prove to be an emotional day for lots of reasons, for lots of people.

For many, there isn’t a last minute dash to the supermarket to pick up flowers and something cute to bring a smile to someone’s face.

For many, there are no flowers or breakfast in bed.

It’s important that we, as a society, make space for those who will find this weekend challenging.

Whatever is happening for you this Mother’s Day, I am sending peace.

Take it slowly if you need to.

Be kind to yourself.

Pay attention to your feelings, whatever they may be. Let them be what they are, without judgement. They matter, whatever your situation. ❤️

03/05/2024

Some more reflective writing.

Self growth and nature all rolled into one.

We need periods of rest and retreat so we can restore and renew. We can take cues from nature about how to do this cyclically. 🌱

03/04/2024

03/04/2024

Join us in taking a deep breath in, what are three little things you can see, hear, smell or feel right now? Bring your awareness to the world around you.