What work-life balance?
I have an addictive personality. There I’ve said it. I am an all or nothing person who struggles to operate in the grey space in between. I am either ‘on’ or I am ‘off’ and finding the balanced middle ground is super hard for me and never more so than during the past 12 months. […]
It Has To Start With You
“How can I help my child be more confident? They are constantly putting themselves down and I just don’t know what to do”. This is the question I get asked more than any other – the second most common is “how can I help my child manage their emotions, which in a lot of ways […]
Why I didn’t set any New Years Resolutions this year
I love New Years Eve; it is quite genuinely my most favourite day of the year. For me it’s all about reflecting on the year which has been and looking optimistically forward to the year ahead. It really doesn’t get any better than that!! You see I am a planner, a lover of order, systems, […]
The millstone of parental Guilt by Joanna Lloyd-Baker
Guilt is a strange beast. I see it frequently in my counselling room, and recognise it in my own personal makeup but parental guilt is capable of escalating to another level. We all recognise that guilty feeling, we have all shared that sense that we should have done something differently, that our actions or […]
The power of numbers; why group coaching helps children with anxiety
I’ve been running online children’s workshops for the first time this past week on key topics parents often tell me their children struggle with; confidence building, coping tools for anxiety, and managing emotions. Whilst I had no doubts I would be able to give the children really useful strategies they could start using straight after […]
Building resilient families; what can we learn from this new normal?
I am an eternal optimist; ask my children, they find it really quite irritating. I am always telling them to focus on what the difficulty or challenge is teaching them, and what can be learnt from it. This is not to say I diminish their feelings in any way; absolutely not. Children need to feel […]
Siblings; the big, bad, ugly truth of how we get in the way
It starts off innocently enough. There’s a small disagreement, voices become raised, there’s shouting, then screaming, and one of your children races to find you in floods of tears sobbing so much so that you can’t make out what they’re saying. You ask what happened and you get one story from the sobbing child as […]
Self Care; Why I’m Making It My Theme for 2020
At the end of each year I spend quite a bit of time time reflecting on the lessons the previous year has taught me, and I then set my goals for the next year. To help keep me on track I choose a couple of words which embody my goals in one theme. My two […]
The lies we tell ourselves about being vulnerable; calling out the bulls**t!!
I more than most have been guilty of always presenting an ‘I’ve got it all together’ front. The “I’m perfectly in control, have my finger on every pulse I need to, and I juggle multiple things effortlessly” kind of thing. It was a persona not brought about by an ego which said I needed to […]
Helping children become more resilient
Resilient children are more successful not only academically but also socially because their mindset sees setbacks as a natural part of life and learning. If they’re not picked for the team, they know there will be a next time, if they do poorly in a test they know they can do better in the next […]