Think it Change it

06/07/2025

⭐️⭐️ Coming soon to Buckie ⭐️⭐️

Trauma informed training workshop
27th September.

Suitable for therapists / counsellors, coaches and PTs, charity workers and even dog trainers. In fact, anyone who helps people.

Sign up link will be out soon. Ping me a message if you want the link. Share this post with anyone you think might be interested. It will be held in Health Haven in Buckie. There will also be a talk.

05/07/2025

“I have no steering” I yelled, as the camel ran back to camp for some rest and munchies.

The procession of tourists (clearly British as their skin was red from the sunburn!) looked terrified, as they had clearly just set off for a camel trek, and had not yet mastered balance. This wild woman on a galloping camel was careering straight across their path.

This was my experience riding a camel in Egypt.

I was there with work. Everyone else had caught flights home, and I had a spare day before mine. I was given a car and a tour guide and taken to see the sights around Cairo. My tour guide said I should ride a camel. I didn’t want to do it as I one on my own. She persuaded me to do it for the experience and I conceded.

The plan was: ride the camel out in front of the pyramid, get a picture, leave.

There is a trick to staying on a camel when it stands up. The little old guy instructed me which way to lean and the camel stood up with me still seated. We walked the short distance to make it look like I was in a desert. The old guy took photos. And then I was done.

Out of nowhere a young lad appeared - maybe 12 years old. He gave me the rope used to lead the camel and put his hand out for my camera to take photos. Initially I refused as I’d already got them. He insisted. Then he asked for money. I told him if I stayed in the camel when we returned to camp, I’d give him money then.

“You know I’m just joking?” He smiled (there are tourist police at the pyramids to stop this sort of thing)

He then whacked the camel on its arse and it went galloping back to camp. I still had the single rope. It was neither the breaks nor the steering. Luckily a galloping camel is quite smooth but this is how I ended up cutting through a row of tourists on camels.

I dreaded getting back to camp and falling off. However the old guy magically reappeared and helped me off.

“Did you enjoy it?” My tour guide asked.

“Well…that is quite a story” I replied.

02/07/2025

It’s been a 4 years now since you died. And I don’t know how to remember you anymore. I have more and more moments where I want to chat with you. I want you to meet my daughter as she is now. I know you’d enjoy each other’s company. I’d enjoy seeing that.

So do I remember you as the doting grandmother that you clearly were? Or the mother I couldn’t bear to speak to because it hurt so much after the betrayal?

Or do I remember you as the stranger that I saw in my grandparents house a few years after we’d been living with my father and stepmother, having been abandoned suddenly by you when I was little?

I can’t remember those earliest happy years. I can’t remember you that way, not consciously at least.

Maybe I should remember the you in Stockport. That blissful year of love affection, no hitting. Fed well. Maybe that is the real relationship I should focus on and forget everything else.

Or those years when we moved back to Anglesey. When you did nothing about what he was doing. When I became your carer and you depended on me for emotional support too. A role reversal. A situation that was intolerable for my brother so he ran away.

4 years later and now there is no chance of asking you why, or asking if you loved me really.

What should I remember?

I wish I could know that you loved me without it hurting so damn much.

01/07/2025

This is a testimonial from 10 years ago. I’ve been a full time therapist for 13 years. I have helped over 1400 people worldwide. I have clients from Western Australia (10.5 hours ahead of the UK) to the west coast of America (8 hours behind the UK).

My youngest client is 6. My oldest in their 80s (I’ve had a few clients in their 80s)

For most clients, if they choose never to talk to me again after three sessions, they are ok to get on with life. Some clients have an ongoing relationship with me, allowing me to guide and support them as they grow and become the best version of themselves.

I offer a free 30 minute chat so you can decide if you want to work with me, before making a commitment. Most people leave those calls smiling and feeling hopeful.

Things that surprise people about working with me:
🌟 It’s quick. Most of the work is done in the first session
🌟 You don’t have to talk through your life story. I am a problem solver. I am focussed on how your brain codes information.
🌟You leave the session feeling good. Anything we talk about, we change. I don’t leave you with everything stirred up.
🌟You don’t have homework. This is not a thinking brain process. If it was, you wouldn’t need my help. All I need from you is curiosity.
🌟 You don’t have to commit to weekly therapy sessions. The gap between the first and second session is 2 weeks. 4 weeks after the second session I will check in and see how you’re doing. At that point we’ll either book in your third session or, if you decide you’re ok, the third session sits in the bank for any time in the future you may need it.
🌟If something is difficult for you to talk about, you don’t need to. Even if you can’t talk about it, I can still guide you to clear it.

Most feedback says:
💬 Non-judgmental
💬 That was interesting / fun!
💬 Dawn helped me to… / Dawn gave me the tools to…
💬 I wish I’d come to see you years ago

Maybe today is the day you decide that enough is enough and it’s time to change.

Www.thinkitchangeit.com

(Link in bio)

30/06/2025

𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞

The car from the funeral home, that carried the family members to the funeral, had broken down. I found myself driving my mother’s two best friends to the church.

Conversation was polite, but awkward. I hadn’t been part of my mother’s life for 6 years.

We arrived and I let them out of the car by the entrance, and went off to park . Walking up I passed someone I recognised.

“You remember Mary?” My cousin said.

My heart somersaulted.

Of course I do. I told her my biggest secret. And she told the police she knew nothing. Sure, I remember Mary.

I carried on walking, focussing on my child.

I lined up outside, waiting for the coffin to be brought in first. I recognised one or two people. Most I didn’t.

Again I focussed on my child.

Dancing Queen by Abba started playing. We smiled at each other. It was very ‘mum’.

We were now allowed in.

People sat at the front on either side.

People sat at the back on either side.

I sat in the middle. I didn’t recognise most of the people in the front. I didn’t feel I would be welcome. I didn’t know what my mother would have told them, but as she didn’t shown up for me at the trial, I assumed it wasn’t good.

So I sat in the middle.

I didn’t recognise the woman they talked about in the Eulogy. A loving mother. A doting grandmother. I was hurting. Not because she was dead, but because of what it meant. What I was left with. Nothing. Nothing had been true.

I did not belong there - with all these people who had loved my mother so much. I was the bad guy. I only attended for my child - so that she could say goodbye to her grandmother. I went so I could walk away once and for all from all family.
===============================
4 years ago my mother died.

It’s certainly been an interesting and transformational 4 years. My world, my sense of self and my relationships have all been turned upside down. And it’s still going. Deeper, and more fundamental.

But for now, it’s 4 years since ‘Nana pink’ died and some of the fonder memories are starting to find space in my head.

29/06/2025

Was up at 5:30am. Decided to go to Starbucks and try and do some writing. Made the mistake of listening to a podcast that was funny and didn’t get much done. At least I tried.

24/06/2025

Testimonials. Who do you know that needs my help? Why not share this post with them

22/06/2025

21/06/2025

I asked you if you’d ever seen a therapist, and over two thirds of you have.

Maybe it’s a little more normal than you realise?

18/06/2025

I love hearing about how well clients are doing.

Sometimes they share with me, and sometimes I find out when they recommend me. I once had a new client because their nurse when they went to A&E told them I’d helped them.

I still have new clients come to me from talks I did 10 years ago.

Who do you know that could use my help? Why not share this post with them.

Or, if you want to do more, head to the link in my bio and pay it forward, gifting someone the opportunity to work with me.

16/06/2025

I do talks and workshops for schools. The teachers love them and get tools they can start using straight away. It is just as effective online and in person, so it doesn’t matter where in the world you are based.

Interested in me working with your school? Why not send me a message and we can set up a call to discuss

16/06/2025

People say nice things. It’s nice to make a difference. I have clients contact me that attended talks or workshops 5+ years ago and are now ready to work on themselves.

It’s never too late