I’m very excited to say that there is now a community, non profit counselling service in the heart of the Happy Valley of Hebden Bridge. I’ve always felt extremely strongly that good, professional counselling services shouldn’t only be available to those that can afford them. It’s really important that we are taking care of the wellbeing of all people.

Alongside my private practice I run Dialogues Counselling Service, an organisation that provides counselling placements to trainees and unlimited counselling and psychotherapy sessions to adults and young people living in and around Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire.

Trainees: If you’re an exceptional trainee of counselling or psychotherapy, and you’re looking for a placement please send me an email requesting a recruitment pack. You need to already have at least 20 client contact hours or be working towards that.

Clients: If you’re here looking for counselling or psychotherapy and you’re either on an NHS waiting list for a limited number of Counselling/CBT sessions, or don’t feel able to wait please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We don’t have a waiting list.

We offer low cost counselling to anyone who is eligible. We don’t judge, we just want you to feel supported in your life. Have a chat with us today or you can refer yourself by emailing us: talktodialogues@gmail.com.

At specific times of the year, difficult feelings (whilst they may be always present), can be triggered by additional pressures that are hard to avoid.

If you haven’t enjoyed the best relationship with your mum, you might be experiencing painful feelings of loss and abandonment associated with that missing relationship. You might look at others’ relationships and wish you had what they have. You might have intense feelings of anger or the opposite, emptiness or feelings of sadness.

Whatever you’re going through it’s valid. If you feel it might be helpful to explore those feelings with someone who will listen I may be able to offer you some space to do that.

Relationships can be challenging and coming to terms with what we didn’t have and what we needed can take time.

Why not get in touch and see if I can support you to feel better.

I’m not able to get into the office today, we’ve had a lot of snow. If you’re due to have an appointment today, I’ll be in Touch to re schedule asap. Keep warm, stay well and have fun with it if you can. It’ll be gone before we know it. Warm wishes, Jo

I’ve made it my intention to post insights or blogs more frequently this year because I’ve wanted to reach out to as many people as possible and now with my private practice thriving and moving into supporting fellow professionals with my clinical supervision practice it feels like a good time to forge ahead and make a long awaited dream come true.

To give you some background… I’ve always felt that it is important that counselling is available to everyone who is looking for it. At times in life, most people feel the need to reach out to a professional for support and whilst counselling can be much needed, options for this can be limited. NHS waiting lists are currently long and the cost of weekly sessions with a private therapist can be just too much of a financial stretch.

I am going to be launching Dialogues LCC, this year and I am very excited about it so I wanted to tell you all first.

Dialogues Counselling Service will be run as a non-profit organisation and it was born out of a passion and commitment to serve the local community with affordable counselling and support mental wellbeing. We will be working with professional, dedicated trainee therapists to provide you with ethical, effective counselling for as long as you would like it. We ask clients to fund their sessions by paying what they can afford and places will be means tested. We will be offering counselling to young people aged 16-19 and to adults face to face, in Hebden Bridge, Calderdale and West Yorkshire. Sessions are from as little as £10.

I will co-ordinate the service alongside my own private practice where my clients can choose to PAY IT FORWARD, should they wish to. By potentially supporting an LCC client’s counselling journey with either one session or a course of sessions clients can make it possible for another person to experience the benefits f counselling. Any profits will be invested and used to fund a limited number of free sessions for clients in dire financial constraint.

Whilst our counsellors and psychotherapists may hold a special interest in a specific area, we will work directly with the client’s need and be completely client led, we will do our best to allocate clients to the best possible therapist for them.

So if you know of someone who would benefit from affordable counselling, whatever the difficulty, invite them to get in touch. talktodialogues@gmail.com

Very inspiring watch.

I wrote a blog the other week about how to cope with anxiety. It got me thinking about times in my life when I feel, in retrospect, anxiety really held me back. It’s not always easy to see at the time or to know what to do. I’m not sure I always realised at the time. I knew something wasn’t working, life wasn’t coming together for me in the ways I thought it would, or wanted it to, and I was putting a lot of effort in for not a lot of gain sometimes.

If you’re experiencing feelings of anxiety and you think it could be holding you back in your career or relationships, there is a way through it.

Anxiety can erode self-confidence which can impact on all aspects of life including work and relationships. In day to day terms this could mean missing deadlines, procrastination, tiredness, loss of health generally, over eating or missing meals altogether and disinterest in the things you once enjoyed. You may be pulled to pass over opportunities at work or you might be overlooked for promotion.

Perhaps you realise that you aren’t as confident as you once were and you’d like to understand what’s happened. If we are prone to feelings of anxiety we may opt to stay within a comfort zone that enables us to avoid anxious feelings. Because let’s be honest, it feels pretty scary to have those feelings.

Whilst all this is completely understandable, that approach doesn’t get us to where we want to be in life. I believe life is all about developing the resilience to get out there, grab opportunities and live the kind of life that’s worth living.

If any of the above resonates with you and you would like help to understand what’s going on.  Why not get in touch: talktodialogues@gmail.com

However inevitable death and dying are the hole left by the loss of someone you love can be immeasurable and the feelings overwhelming.

Grief can be complex depending on the circumstances and relationship dynamics around the death and for each person the length of time to process grief is different.

It can help to create space and time within your day to day life to allow yourself to feel the loss. Scary as that may sound. It might help to develop a ritual or daily routine that incorporates self-care, gentle physical exercise and healthy foods. Develop self-compassion and a nourishing narrative, however challenging. Journal your thoughts and feelings or process through art.

Be patient with yourself, get plenty of rest and take things one day at a time.

Relationships aren’t always straight forward and feelings of grief left over from challenging relationship dynamics can be surprising and challenging.

If you would like help to process grief, please get in touch: talktodialogues@gmail.com

Most people experience some form of anxiety at some time in their lives. The feelings of anxiety that you’re experiencing are your body’s physiological response to a perceived danger. The feelings are very real regardless of whether there is actually a real danger in that moment or not. Your body is remembering and is perceiving danger and responding. Your brain is trying to keep you (the organism) alive when it feels threatened under the perceived danger.

When we understand what’s going on and what’s triggering your anxiety, (and we can learn that through the process of therapy) we can begin to learn new coping strategies for how to cope with it so that it impacts day to day life as little as possible and we can actually begin to live a life worth living. Anxiety can be debilitating.

If you’re struggling with anxiety, you don’t need to struggle on alone. The first step forward is to reach out and find a therapist that you feel comfortable with. Therapy may not always feel comfortable but you should always feel safe with your therapist.

Meanwhile, the following suggestions may help you to cope:

1. Consider developing a daily routine that includes some form of physical exercise.
2. Reduce daily alcohol, caffeine, processed sugar intake, recreational drugs and smoking/vaping.
3. Develop self compassion.
4. Learn how to breathe. 4,4,4,4.

If you would like to explore your feelings of anxiety talktodialogues@gmail.com

Are you looking for a new clinical supervisor in 2023? Many of us stay with the same supervisor for years and there’s comfort in that however, the benefits of changing supervisor are enormous when we think about developing new approaches to our work, continuing professional development and exploring new opportunities.

If you feel like you would like to try a relational approach to clinical supervision, view my supervision page or send me an enquiry and we can arrange a no obligation, free of charge chat on the phone about your supervision needs in 2023.

Nothing Changes, If Nothing Changes:

This programme is suitable for anyone who is ready to make a change and learn new coping strategies for a life worth living. Whether it’s recreational drugs, alcohol, or something else that’s been your ‘go to’ when life feels difficult, now could be a good time to invest in you and the life you really want to live.

This is a 12 week Individual programme exclusively created for you. 100% commitment. required.

This course is discrete, confidential and personalised. It conveniently fits around your work/life commitments, unlike residential programmes.

You’ll set the goal and we’ll focus on the solutions.

You’ll learn new skills that you can use long after the course has ended.

You’ll receive 24-7 dedicated contact with your therapist for the duration of the course.

Talk to me today and start whenever you’re ready: talktodialogues@gmail.com

Therapy Group: Small Group Therapy: 12 week rolling course.

This group meets weekly in Hebden Bridge on a Tuesday afternoon at 1:30pm until 2:30pm.

To express an interest, find out about dates or to sign up please email: talktodialogues@gmail.com.