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Therapy Uncategorized

Therapeutic Bypassing

You may be familiar with the concept of spiritual bypassing. If you are not, it can be summarised as using spiritual practices and beliefs to avoid dealing with emotional wounds or psychological issues in one’s life. In addition to this well-known way of coping with or avoiding emotional pain, I am also seeing a different […]

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LGBTQIA+ Therapy

The importance of gender, sex and relationship diversity in counselling training

I’ve recently had a piece published in Counselling Matters, the journal of my professional membership body the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society. It’s a reflection on my training to become a therapist and how important it’s been for me to get advanced specialist training in working with people who are gender-expansive, have a range of […]

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Accessibility Therapy Trans

Trans healthcare, Britishness and the NHS

I’ve been thinking about something since watching this video recently and reading people’s comments about it. If you have an hour and a half and a relatively strong constitution for emotional turmoil, I recommend watching it. It’s pretty heart-wrenching, and it has some interesting philosophical points about the nature of large institutions and some of […]

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LGBTQIA+ Uncategorized

(Un)real friends – parasocial relationships and mental health

In the mid-1950s, TV host Dave Garroway noticed something strange when he was walking around the town where he lived. After beginning his stint as presenter of NBC’s Today show, Garroway noticed that complete strangers would approach him in the street, greeting him warmly as though they knew him and asking after his wife. He […]

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Therapy

Therapy and fandom

I am a therapist. I am also a fan. I have been a fan for much longer than I have been a therapist, and my relationship with fandom is one that has provided me with a lot of rewarding experiences over the years. On Saturday, I will be presenting at my first ever fan convention […]

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LGBTQIA+ Queer Relationship Diversity Trans

IDAHoBiT 2022 – Inside and Out

17th May is International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. The global day helps highlight how far we still must go in fully recognising the rights—and humanity—of LGBTQIA+[1] people all over the world. Most people have heard of Pride—events that celebrate protest and progress made by queer people in rights and acceptance—but fewer people have […]