Mental Health

When we accept responsibility for our mental health, we free ourselves to believe we can take the next step.

Mental Health

What is mental health?

As the World Health Organization states, “There is no health without mental health”.

Our mental health includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being. Mental health impacts how we feel, think, act and react. It influences the decisions we make, how we relate to others and how we handle stressful situations. Mental health is the foundation of our sense of well-being from childhood and throughout life.

Many factors may negatively impact your mental health, some of which are:

• Childhood experiences: not having your emotional and physical needs met.
• Domestic violence: experiencing or witnessing domestic abuse.
• Trauma: experiencing or witnessing a traumatic incident.
• Social and economic circumstances: opportunities in education and employment, social surrounding, support network.
• Life experiences: challenging life experiences.

You can find a little more on how therapy works here.

If you would like to book a session – get in touch here.

To find out about the services I offer – services.

Everyone’s different, and people experience mental health problems in different ways. However, noticing the following may indicate that you or someone you care about may be struggling with their mental health:

• Fatigue: no energy to do anything.
• Disconnecting: withdrawing emotionally.
• Persistent negative thoughts: inability to stop the cycle of negative thoughts.
• Mood swings: unusual and severe mood swings – out of character.
• Numb: feeling nothing, emotionally shut down.
• Physical discomfort: experiencing aches and pains.
• Addictive behaviours: using drugs, excess drinking.
• Impacts daily life: feeling unable to perform daily tasks.
• Self-harm: thinking or acting upon harming yourself.
• Anger: experiencing and finding it difficult to control feelings of anger.
• Appetite: eating too much or too little.
• Sleep: struggling to sleep or sleeping too much.
• Low self-esteem: feelings of self-hate and worthlessness.

Well Being

Our well being is how we feel emotionally, psychologically and physically.

There are ways that you can help yourselves. By taking a proactive approach, you can positively influence your well-being.

Living with a sense that you are not controlling your life can negatively influence how you feel. However, starting to take positive steps to help yourself can feel empowering. Whilst the following suggestions don’t take away the genuine challenges you may be experiencing, they can help offer you a level of resilience to support you when you are struggling with everyday life.

There are proven changes in behaviour that can positively impact your well-being, such as:

• Sleep: quality of sleep is crucial to both mental and physical health. Research shows that sleep impacts all areas of life and that taking positive steps to improve your sleep quality is very important for your all-around health.
• Nutrition: taking steps to eat a healthy diet benefits you physically and positively influences how you feel.
• Breath: the way you breathe can influence the way you feel. Specific patterns of breath can help calm you physically, mentally and emotionally and other breathing patterns can energise you.
• Exercise: finding a form of exercise that you enjoy can bring significant benefits to all-round health.
• Talking Therapy: having the time and space to talk about how you are feeling can positively impact your emotional well-being and help you work through issues that have become a barrier to your happiness.

Talking therapy can support you if you are experiencing problems with your mental health. Taking positive steps to help yourself can support you in feeling more in control and emotionally stronger.

Counselling and how it works.

Counselling is sometimes called “talking therapy” and is a process that offers you a way to explore your feelings and thoughts, helping you to work through problems that are troubling you.

No one knows you better than you know yourself. Talking about your experiences from your perspective can help release long-held feelings and encourage self-acceptance.

The aim of therapy is not for me to tell you what to do. Instead, it’s a process where you work with me to explore your feelings and thoughts, gain understanding, and increase self-awareness helping you to feel emotionally stronger.

We often find the easiest way to cope with uncomfortable feelings arising from painful experiences is to bury them deep down inside or mask them with alcohol or drugs. However, feelings that are not acknowledged can become a barrier to happiness, health and well-being. Talking about your problems can help you begin to untangle the issues you’re struggling with, gaining insights to support you in going forward.

If you would like to book a session – get in touch here.

To find out about the services I offer – services.

We would look at your reasons for seeking therapy during your first session and how you hope therapy may help. Then, working at your own pace, you can begin to talk about your current thoughts, feelings and life issues that are causing you concern. As therapy progresses, we may start to explore past issues and experiences which can help explain current difficulties. If you are worried about what to say in your first session, it can help to jot down a few things: how you have been feeling recently, how you are feeling physically, any issues you may be experiencing elsewhere in your life.

The therapy I offer can help you:

• identify what may be troubling you
• acknowledge, validate and release your feelings
• reduce confusion and become clearer about your way forward
• explore the anxieties and fears that are concerning you
• work at your own pace, exploring how you would like things to be different

I have experience working with a broad range of issues, including:

• depression
• anxiety
• self-hate, worthlessness, low self-esteem
• self-harm
• anger-towards self or others
• loneliness, grief, loss
• prolonged sadness
• confusion, uncertainty, desperation, fear
• living in an abusive relationship – psychological abuse, physical abuse
• experiencing addiction – alcohol, eating disorder, drugs
• obsessive-compulsive tendencies
• work concerns
• sexual identity
• family break-up
• addictive behaviours
• issues stemming from childhood
• complex post-traumatic stress

Talking through your fears can help minimise them and awareness of self-help tools can give back a sense of control.

Counselling for Anxiety.

Suffering from anxiety can be very distressing and can permeate all areas of life. The complete lack of control over thoughts and feelings can feel disempowering and frightening and lead to depression. Therapy is one way forward to support change. Talking through your fears can help minimise them and awareness of self-help tools can give back a sense of control. In addition, exploring the underlying reasons that give rise to anxiety can promote self-awareness and establish a clearer perspective on the links between current anxiety and previous experiences.

You can find a little more about how therapy works here.

If you would like to book a session – get in touch here.

To find out about the services I offer – services.

Anxiety is a condition that can develop for many different reasons including issues relating to childhood experiences, problems stemming from current life circumstances, issues with physical or mental health or addiction. Anxiety is more than feeling stressed or worried. Anxiety is the anxious feelings that seem to fill your body and mind blocking out all other thoughts and feelings. Anxious feelings are difficult to control easily and can be very distressing with symptoms including racing heartbeat, sweating, digestive problems, headaches, feeling dizzy and racing thoughts. You may experience recurring intrusive thoughts and concerns that seem to go around and around in your mind and you may find yourself overanalysing the smallest of things. The experience of feeling that you have no control over your thoughts and feelings can feel as if you have no control over your life.

There are different forms of anxiety that a person can suffer from including:

Social anxiety: feeling very uncomfortable in social situations – worrying about what others think of you, how they perceive you. Low self-esteem can find you becoming dependent on external validation to feel ok. When you rely on others to feel good, you put yourself in a vulnerable position where your sense of self-worth is in the control of how others relate to you rather than coming from your internal self-belief.

Generalised anxiety: generalised anxiety describes the experience of a person who has constant, persistent worrying thoughts leading to physical and emotional stress. Daily life is dominated by what feels like uncontrollable worrying thoughts. Physically anxiety is experienced as muscular tension, digestive disorders, skin conditions, migraine and difficulty sleeping.

Post-Traumatic Stress: PTSD is a stress disorder that develops due to experiencing a single traumatic event such as unexpectedly losing a loved one, traumatic childbirth, a car accident, an assault or an unexpected health condition requiring intensive care. People experiencing PTSD may experience flashbacks to the original traumatic event suffer from intrusive thoughts have trouble sleeping and have nightmares. In addition, they may experience extremes in emotions, feeling hopeless as if there’s nothing to look forward to, constantly feeling on guard as if something awful is about to happen, self-blame concerning the event and physical symptoms such as heart racing, sweating, shaking, headaches.

Complex Post-Traumatic Stress: CPTSD can occur when a person experiences prolonged ongoing trauma such as experiencing abuse or neglect during childhood, repeatedly witnessing violence or abuse, for example, a child raised in a household where they witness emotional, psychological, physical abuse. CPTSD is more likely to occur at a younger age and is inflicted on you by someone you have a relationship with. CPTSD can also occur when you are the victim of ongoing domestic violence.

CPTSD can have a long-term negative impact on all areas of life – difficulty forming or maintaining relationships, struggling to manage emotions, pervasive feelings of worthlessness, chronic low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts. In addition, physical symptoms can manifest as migraines, insomnia, tight chest, skin conditions and stomach disorders.

Panic attacks: a panic attack is a sudden overwhelming sense of fear felt in the body with increased heartbeat, tight chest, sweating and shaking, feeling dizzy and a struggle to breathe. It can be very frightening, especially if it seems to happen with no explanation as to why. Panic attacks link to underlying conditions such as anxiety, PTSD/CPTSD, phobias. However, they can occur when a person feels fine in themselves, which can feel very confusing.

Obsessive-Compulsive: OCD at its most severe can be a debilitating condition that negatively impacts quality of life. The obsession in OCD is the uncontrollable thoughts that lead to compulsive, repetitive actions. The thought (obsession) that something awful will happen to a loved one if you don’t (compulsive) perform a specific action. OCD feels like you have no control at all over your negative thoughts. It’s the underlying ever-present overwhelming fear that if you don’t do something in a particular way then something awful will happen.

Phobias: Phobias are experienced as a constant overwhelming fear of an object or a situation. Phobias can be so intrusive that they restrict how someone lives their life or can be more of a nuisance, just causing intermittent disruption.

Acknowledging the depression and that you want to change is your first step towards breaking free.

Counselling for Depression

Therapy gives you the time and emotional space to talk through your feelings and experiences without feeling judged. Exploring feelings that have been too painful for you to acknowledge gives a sense of emotional release. Therapy can help you identify self-defeating thoughts that may have played through your mind for years, sometimes subconsciously. During therapy, you can begin to understand the underlying reasons that led to depression which can bring answers to your way forward.

You can find a little more about how therapy works here.

If you would like to book a session – get in touch here.

To find out about the services I offer – services.

Depression is more than low mood or sadness. A person suffering from depression lives their life as if looking through a dark veil. It colours and taints everything.

Depression can feel very isolating as if you’re living on the edge of life but not fully involved. There can be feelings of hopelessness and an inability to believe that things will ever get any better.

JK Rowling has powerfully described her struggles with depression:

“Depression is the most unpleasant thing I have ever experienced. . .. It is that absence of being able to envisage that you will ever be cheerful again. The absence of hope. That very deadened feeling, which is so very different from feeling sad. Sad hurts but it’s a healthy feeling. It is a necessary thing to feel. Depression is very different.”

It can feel upsetting to hear someone suggest that you just “snap out of it”. Unfortunately, depression isn’t something you can just snap out of and if you hear someone offering that in an attempt to be helpful, that person has not experienced depression themselves. Depression isn’t a choice and there is still ongoing research into why one person may suffer from depression and another person not. There is evidence that people suffering from depression experience dysregulation of the nervous system and chemical imbalance within the brain, leading to some of the symptoms associated with depression. The reasons for this imbalance may differ from person to person but can stem from traumatic experiences in life, often stemming from childhood. Trauma that has not been processed can impact both your emotional and physical health. Unexpressed trauma can feel like a heavy burden that you carry around with you every day. However, people are often unaware of the underlying reasons that have led to their current difficulties.

There are things you can do to support yourself in managing or alleviating depression.

We’re all different and what helps one person may not help another. Finding what feels suitable for you is very important and it can be helpful to combine different strategies to help you start to feel better. Talking therapy has been shown to be as effective as antidepressants in helping to overcome bouts of depression. The prospect of talking to a complete stranger can feel daunting and you may feel as if you wouldn’t know what to say. It can help just to jot down a few issues you’re struggling with before the first session. We would usually begin by talking about how you’re feeling right now. At some point, we may start to explore your past which can help explain your present-day struggles. Talking through your concerns is a way of processing and resolving deeply held feelings and experiences.

Depression can last for weeks, months or years and people can slide in and out of depression throughout life. Depression can happen at any age and can sometimes occur with co-existing conditions such as anxiety disorders, addiction issues or self-harm. You may be able to identify why you are suffering from depression or it may feel as if it’s come out of the blue and you can’t understand why you feel this way.

Depression can affect all areas of a person’s life including:

Behaviour: Withdrawing from family and friends.

An inability to enjoy anything.

Struggling to concentrate.

Not completing tasks at home, work or school.

Using alcohol or drugs as an escape.

Isolating yourself and not going out as usual.

Eating too much or not enough.

Crying and you can’t explain why.

Feelings: Feelings of hopelessness, emptiness, numbness.

Irritable, short-tempered.

Unbearably unhappy.

Very low self-esteem, self-worth.

Indecisive.

Frustrated, stressed.

Guilty.

Thoughts: It’s all my fault

I’m worthless, no good.

I’m a failure.

Everything always goes wrong for me.

What’s the point in being alive.

Everyone would be better off without me.

Nothing is ever going to go right for me.

Physical: Lacking energy, extreme fatigue

Physical tension – tight muscles, churning stomach.

Panic attacks, extreme anxiety, worrying.

Headaches.

Sleep problems.

A lowered immune system, run-down.

Changes in appetite.

Weight loss or weight gain.

Brain fog, not thinking clearly.

It takes courage to confront the complexities of an emotionally abusive relationship. The first step is acknowledging the abuse and that it’s not your fault.

Are you in an emotionally abusive relationship?

As a society, we tend to think of abuse in terms of physical or sexual abuse. However, we rarely consider emotional and psychological abuse, making this form of abuse hard to identify or acknowledge.

If you’re living within an abusive, controlling relationship, you will find your feelings are dismissed as irrelevant, your thoughts devalued as worthless. You can end up doubting your mind, even questioning whether you’re at fault. Living in an emotionally abusive relationship can alter how you see yourself and how you see life.

Therapy can be one way to support your recovery and help you move forward. During therapy, we can work through the pain of the abuse – talking about your experiences within a therapeutic relationship where you feel safe and not judged can feel validating and healing. Deeper work can bring awareness to the subtle processes underlying relationship choice.

You can find a little more about how therapy works here.

If you would like to book a session – get in touch here.

To find out about the services I offer – services.

Emotional narcissitic abuse can take many forms, some of which include:

Minimisation: your feelings, thoughts and experiences are minimised, trivialised and disregarded.

Undermined: you are questioned when expressing your opinion, interrupted or silenced and told you are wrong.

Denial: an abusive person denies or distorts words they have spoken.

Blame: your words are manipulated and twisted against you.

Challenging: you are questioned and challenged.

Expectations: nothing you do is ever good enough. You live with constant criticisms and put-downs.

Keep the peace: you feel your walking on eggshells to maintain peace.

Gaslighting: is a term used to refer to someone who uses many of the above tactics. When someone uses gaslighting against you, they undermine your sense of what’s real and what’s not and you can feel as if you’re losing your mind. When confronted with their behaviour, they will deflect blame, twisting the truth to avoid taking responsibility. They dredge up examples from the past when you made a mistake as evidence against you. It doesn’t matter how blatant their abuse is; they will deny it with conviction convincing themselves that they’re the innocent victim. They belittle you to others to make you look bad, confirming and reinforcing their innocence. They are clever and use manipulation and invalidation. They will relentlessly undermine you to the point that you feel you’re going crazy.

Living with emotional abuse is profoundly damaging and destructive. It can negatively impact your self-esteem, self-worth and sense of well-being. It can suck all the joy out of your life. You can feel as if a heavy dark cloud hangs over you. Emotional abuse leaves invisible scars that can impact all areas of your life. You may experience feelings of guilt or shame resulting in social withdrawal and isolation from family and friends leaving you without any support system. Depression, anxiety, despair and feelings of hopelessness can result from ongoing emotional attacks. You may become physically unwell and suffer from chronic pain, low energy, headaches and insomnia.

We often find the easiest way to cope with uncomfortable feelings arising from painful experiences is to bury them deep down inside. Finding someone you feel comfortable with to talk about your experiences can help you begin to work through the confusion helping you to find clarity and build confidence to move forward.

Acknowledging a dysfunctional childhood isn’t about seeking to find fault, although those feelings may arise. Instead, it’s about finding answers and moving away from self-defeating behaviours and self-blame. Therapy is one way to release the past, free yourself from destructive behaviour patterns and begin to believe in yourself.

Childhood emotional abuse can have a negative impact throughout all areas of your life. As an adult, it’s sometimes difficult to relate current issues to your childhood experiences. However, acknowledging a dysfunctional childhood helps you in becoming more self-aware. It can help you accept yourself as you are and move away from self-defeating behaviours and self-blame.

You can find a little more about how therapy works here.

If you would like to book a session – get in touch here.

To find out about the services I offer – services.

Childhood emotional abuse is complex, and its impact is often overlooked. As an adult, the long-term consequences develop into low self-esteem, self-defeating behaviours, depression, anxiety and a negative inner critic. A child learns about trust, care, empathy and love from their parents. If you were rejected, neglected, and experienced inconsistent harsh treatment as a child, then you did not learn how a healthy relationship feels. As an adult, you can find yourself drawn into dysfunctional damaging relationships and may suffer from low self-esteem and low self-worth. The long-term impact of childhood abuse can result in the debilitating symptoms of CPTSD complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

Identifying childhood emotional abuse can be difficult as society accepts approaches to parenting that touch on becoming psychologically abusive such as shouting, yelling and emotional withdrawal. However, the following are some areas where a child is a victim of emotional abuse:

• A parent who rejects, degrades and criticises their child. This can happen when a parent withholds affection and is cold and condescending toward their child or when a child is criticised and ridiculed. All children need love, encouragement and affection to thrive and feel safe and secure.
• A parent who ignores their child’s need for affection. Not showing a child warmth, love and acceptance. Emotional neglect can deeply damage a child’s growing sense of self leaving them feeling unloved and unlovable.
• Being the victim of emotional abuse can feel terrifying to a child. A child can experience the terror directly when threatened with injury, death or abandonment to themselves, people or things they love. A child can also feel terror when living in a household surrounded by verbal abuse or physical violence.
• A parent may refuse their child opportunities to interact with others preventing them from participating in normal childhood activities. Isolation can also be another means of “punishing” their child.
• A parent may encourage their child to engage in inappropriate behaviours to receive their attention – which can be any attention positive or negative.

Many adults who experienced childhood emotional abuse go on to maintain a relationship with their parents. The complex feelings that can arise when you acknowledge that you experienced emotional abuse as a child can be challenging to work through. Talking through your experiences helps you gain insight and understanding and supports you in expressing feelings you haven’t acknowledged. When you find clarity, understanding and acceptance, you move away from self-blame to build self-esteem and self-acceptance.

Seeking therapy for many people can be a difficult decision, and maybe even more so for autistic people and people living with ADHD, as therapy involves meeting an unfamiliar person in new surroundings.

You can find a little more about how therapy works here.

If you would like to book a session – get in touch here.

To find out about the services I offer – services.

I have professional experience working with autistic people and people with ADHD, and I understand the complexities of living with a neurodivergent brain. As with all clients, I consider each person’s individual needs and am aware of potential sensory processing issues. I work respectfully and at a pace that’s suited to each person. Autistic people and people with ADHD may be at increased risk of experiencing anxiety-related issues and depression. Common everyday tasks can feel overwhelming and maintaining a mask of calmness whilst beneath the surface struggling to cope can feel exhausting. If you are finding life difficult, talking through your concerns in an environment where you feel comfortable and safe can positively impact your mental health and sense of well-being.

Autistic Women:

If you are an autistic woman, you may have found it challenging to get the correct diagnosis, or feel that you don’t need a diagnosis to acknowledge yourself as autistic. You may be left feeling confused or traumatised as a consequence of the diagnostic process, or you may feel relieved, listened to and heard.

Women can find it harder to get recognised as Autistic, leading to feelings of frustration and a sense of not having their experiences validated. Early childhood might have been challenging, especially if there was no awareness on the impact that autism was having on daily life. Talking about your experiences can feel validating and positively impact self-esteem, self-worth, and self-identity.

An eating disorder can control and overshadow your life. Talking through your experiences gains insight into the origins that underlie the eating disorder, which can encourage self-acceptance and help build self-esteem.

Suffering from an eating disorder can have a devasting impact on quality of life.

Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions that can manifest in many different ways, the most recognised of which are anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge eating. Someone may not have a specific medical diagnosis but still suffer from disordered eating, which can have detrimental consequences. Eating disorders affect a person physically, emotionally and psychologically and can have a devastating impact on quality of life.

You can find a little more about how therapy works here.

If you would like to book a session – get in touch here.

To find out about the services I offer – services.

Eating disorders can develop in men, women, boys and girls. An eating disorder is not something you should feel guilty about. It is a symptom of underlying issues and has developed as a response to inner struggles that are perhaps difficult to identify.

Food becomes the focus, but food is not the cause. Instead, the focus on food is a way of coping with complex, painful feelings. It is a diversion away from the actual problem and a way of feeling in control when everything else feels out of control. Over time as the eating disorder develops and becomes more entrenched, you may begin to feel as if it’s controlling you and that your true identity is lost behind the eating disorder.

Eating disorders often occur alongside other mental health difficulties including, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, self-harming and suicidal thoughts. Eating disorders are complex and can require different strategies to aid recovery. We are all different, so it’s important to identify the kind of support you feel would work for you. The support available that you may find beneficial might include working with a dietician, seeking help from your G.P and accessing a supportive self-help group. Therapy is a way for you to talk through your experiences which can support you in making sense of the complexities of living with an eating disorder.

Suffering from an eating disorder is a form of self-abuse resulting from struggles with low self-esteem, low self-worth and feelings of inadequacy. During therapy, you can share your feelings with someone who is hearing and validating your experiences without judging you, which can help build your self-esteem and trust in yourself that you have the answers to support yourself.

Therapy can help you identify the underlying reasons that led to your developing an eating disorder increasing self-awareness and can be a positive step forward in your recovery. Gaining insight into the links between the development of the eating disorder and past experiences can support you in understanding and accepting yourself. In addition, working through unresolved painful experiences can offer answers to support you in finding the courage and confidence to make positive changes in your life.

It can feel frightening to let go of living your life ruled by an eating disorder that has become so familiar and has almost become a comfort whilst at the same time pervasively destructive. However, only you can choose to leave the eating disorder behind.

I have professional experience working with people who struggle with eating disorders and am familiar with the challenges of living with an eating disorder which helps inform the way I work.

Struggling with your mental health can significantly impact all areas of your life. Talking about how you are feeling helps you find clarity and understanding and identify the best way forward.

Some men tend to isolate themselves emotionally when struggling with their mental health. Withdrawing from emotional contact can worsen the problem and lead to a downward spiral into more serious mental health challenges. Talking about your concerns helps you become clearer on how you might resolve things you’re struggling with and start to feel better.

You can find a little more about how therapy works here.

If you would like to book a session – get in touch here.

To find out about the services I offer – services.

It’s not uncommon for people to feel apprehensive at the thought of talking to someone about how they are feeling, and I realise for some, this can be even more of a challenge. Some men seeking therapy may feel it quite a strange thing to undertake. To reduce stress, I take into account individual concerns, work in a non-judgemental way, and consider everyone’s unique experiences.

Struggling with your mental health is not a weakness. However, many men still think they have to appear to be strong, cope with emotional issues on their own, and can be reluctant to reach out for support. Denying, blocking out or not recognising feelings can lead to a loss of direction and, over time, give rise to depression and feelings of hopelessness.

Many boys are still raised to not show emotion, and if they are not encouraged to tune into their own feelings, they can gradually lose touch with a sense of who they are. If you had your feelings dismissed or ignored as a boy, you gradually learn to overlook your own feelings, which can lead to disconnecting from your emotions. If you haven’t experienced having your feelings validated, you can struggle with low self-esteem and low self-worth and may experience difficulties in relationships based on emotional intimacy.

There are different ways to get support when you become aware that you’re struggling with your mental health. The most important thing is to find someone to talk to, whether that’s a family member, friend, your GP or accessing a self-help group. Talking therapy can be a way to talk about feelings and experiences that negatively impact you. Talking about how you are feeling with someone who is listening without judgement can often be a relief especially if you usually push your feelings down and try to ignore them. It can help you find clarity and understanding and build resilience to cope with life challenges.

Menopause can give rise to anxiety, depression and mood swings. Talking through your concerns can give you time to acknowledge your experiences and feel heard.

You can find a little more about how therapy works here.

If you would like to book a session – get in touch here.

To find out about the services I offer – services.

Menopause is a natural stage in life when a woman experiences changes in her hormone levels. There is ongoing debate as to whether physical changes may impact emotional well-being or external factors or both. Women can experience, maybe for the first time, anxiety, depression or extreme swings in mood. This can feel very distressing and confusing and may occur alongside physical symptoms such as hot flushes and night sweats, brain fog, migraine/headaches, aches and pains, irritated skin, weight gain and difficulty sleeping.

How you react to menopause can be influenced by many factors including the age when you experience menopause, mental and physical health, current circumstances. “Keeping a lid” on your feelings can result in emotional outbursts, feeling short-tempered and a sense of not being in control of your own emotions. Unexpressed feelings can lead to low mood, anxiety and depression and physical signs of stress such as tight muscles, back pain, digestive problems and headaches or migraines.

If you are struggling with issues related to menopause or unrelated issues that your experience at the same time as menopause, talking through your concerns can help.

It can give you time to reflect on current issues and space to explore unresolved past experiences.