
Supporting your child to grieve
One of the toughest situations you might face as a parent is the death of your child’s other parent. Alongside coping with your own feelings about the death - which, depending on your relationship with the person who died may be very complicated - you want to do your best to help and support your children with their grief. However are you to know how to do that? In this brief, compassionate discussion, two women explore their experiences as children who lost a parent, and who

What do clients find helpful and harmful?
Over the years, a lot of research has been done into what is effective and what isn't in various kinds of counselling and psychotherapy. Early on in my training, I was writing a paper about mutuality in therapy, and quickly discovered that the vast majority of research had been done by asking therapists about what happens in therapy. Until quite recently, it was unusual for researchers to ask clients about their experience. I'm delighted that this bias has started to be red

Mindfulness doesn't have to mean meditation
I held an impromptu focus group with some friends in the pub recently. As I started gearing up to launch The Village Counsellor, I was shamelessly gathering information, advice and support from anyone who would give it. So I asked my friends to share with me what emotional and mental health support was available in their workplace. One friend said something that particularly struck me: that at her workplace, there seemed to be an obsession with mindfulness. She said that wa