I recently watched the 1998 film The Horse Whisperer, directed by - and starring - Robert Redford as a Montana rancher who helps an injured horse...
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Coming Home to Our Selves
On my bookshelf is a copy of Marion Woodman and Jill Mellick's book Coming Home to Myself. The cover picture, by Jill Mellick herself, is a...
Human Signposts
The Samaritans, Britain's first crisis hotline, was founded in 1953 ‘to befriend the despairing and suicidal’. If, like me, you visit the tiny crypt...
Why and how do we remember?
Perhaps you remember the moment you heard about a significant international or national event. When I heard about John Lennon being shot in New York...
Mind over Mountains: the Power of Nature
I recently had the privilege of giving a workshop for Mind over Mountains, an award-winning charity that began in 2020 as an organisation offering...
Sad Book and the Power of Dance
Michael Rosen’s Sad Book, a novel written after the death of his son Eddie, has been adapted by the 201 theatre company and was performed at the end...
A Gentle Approach to Anxiety
On 29 March, I attended the book launch of fellow Jessica-Kingsley-published author, Dr Martin Brunet. His book, Your Worry Makes Sense, was...
Mind the Gap! Women and Homelessness
Frightened jumping This way that way Only knowing my fragmented terrified Beyond twitchy self I Bump off edges Jarring jangled Ricocheting At the...
Young Men Need Intensive Care!
A respected psychiatrist, working in a project with traumatised young people, tells them ‘Your vulnerability is your power'. But these young folk...
Eldership conference: the gifts of ageing
A café-style conference was held at the Quaker Meeting House in Oxford on Saturday 15 March 2025, with thirty participants from around the country....
Seeds in the Dark
I recently read an article in the Guardian (1 March 2025) by neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan. She writes of a startling rise in medical diagnoses of...
Owning our Gold
I’ve heard the phrase ‘the world’s going to hell in a handcart’ a few times recently. I understand why - there are things that worry many of us: the...
Hush the Noise!
Is it true that in contemporary world, emotionality is ramped up and heightened? In order to be heard it appears that we need to simply shout louder...
Buried Cries
“I am a human being. Nothing human can be alien to me” (Maya Angelou quoting Terentius Afer, an African enslaved by the Romans in 150 BC). Chapter...
Trauma and Time
Christmas is about a moment in time. Trauma can skew time. When something cuts across our path, changing us on the inside, it can feel as though...
From Tianamen to trauma therapist: a life-changing story
In June 1989, at the age of 27, I found myself caught up in a momentous event in world history. The previous year, as a young teacher, I had gone to...
Being proximate: when a hug is too much
There is a young boy, aged 11, called Pete, who loses his beloved mother to cancer and his world changes. The ground he walks on longer feels solid...
A glint in the eye: the importance of mirroring
I have always thought that people's eyes matter. Perhaps when we meet another person and look them in the eye we have a sense of whether we are...
Seizing the moment: thoughts about crisis
I noticed in the Wikipedia entry for the English word 'crisis' that its use has grown considerably since the 1950s. This led me to reflect: are we...
The Time for Statutory Regulation is Here
A shorter version of this article was published in The Guardian on 25 October 2024 Rachel Hall’s argument in The Guardian of 19th October 2024 is...