“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...
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Eldership: The Personal and Professional Gifts of Ageing
Saturday 15 March 2025
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...
Book launch events in November
23 and 26 November 2024
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...
Stop and Look Inside! Thoughts on addiction
Aged 80 this year, Canadian physician Gabor Maté was recently speaking about the notion of being ‘Young Again’ with Kirsty Young on BBC Radio 4. I...
What we most need: thoughts on chronic illness
Many of us remember Miranda Hart, the comedian extraordinaire who rose to prominence with Call the Midwife, winning comedy awards and four BAFTA...
Sing when your voice has been silenced
I recently read an article about an ex-offender musician who volunteered to play for an absent chapel pianist during 18 weeks in prison. He wrote:...
Terry Waite and the power of poetry
I had no personal contact with Terry Waite until April, 2024. Up until then, he was someone who I knew had been held captive in Beirut before being...
Green spaces for trauma
In the UK the warmth is seemingly elusive but longer days and activities does tend to mean we are outside more. How can being outside help us when...
Trauma and Homelessness
Trauma is interwoven with homelessness. I had already noticed this when working with asylum seekers and refugees in St Martin-in-the Fields. Then...
Working with LGBTQI+
However we choose to express ourselves deserves our respect – meaning to see – again. Something is out of our experience requires our curiosity and spacious understanding.
Be Careful About the T Word
GOVERNMENT WEBSITE - PREPARE. Be careful about the T word. The government has just launched a website: https://prepare.campaign.gov.uk/ to urge to...
Online professional training
31 May 2024
Thoughts on AI therapy
A friend of mine told me that her virtual therapist made a really thoughtful intervention and she thought I should check it out!I sent a dismissive...
Colin Murray Parkes – The David Attenborough of bereavement
Colin Murray Parkes, who died on 13 January 2024 at the age of 95, spent the majority of his life putting himself where others suffered traumatic...