Ecotherapy

As those who know me are well aware, over the past 9 years or so I’ve developed a strong interest in ecotherapy. Ecotherapy is the study and practice of all the physical and psychological benefits from being in, interacting with and looking after the natural world, for ourselves, for our families, for our clients, for our communities, and with climate change upon us, for the whole world too. Since I retired from the NHS I’ve been developing an ecotherapy venue on the island of Arran off the south west coast of Scotland. When I’m not planting trees or hacking back brambles, I’m building fences to protect the trees from our neighbours the roving deer, or I’m digging out a nice big fire pit - this is what I think of as “green exercise”. The venue is south facing in a neolithic valley known as Glenashdale, near Whiting Bay. It used to be a barren 5 acre horse field (the horses and/or deer ate everything that tried to grow) but it is slowly transforming into a flora and fauna friendly habitat. I’ve planted various kinds of trees - I’m especially keen on fruit trees that will provide a nectar soaked haven for our buzzing friends. I also plant wildflowers - the yellow rattle was a delightful success last year. Nearby there is the enormous Glenashdale waterfall which is a power of nature that has to be seen (especially after it rains), and many other smaller waterfalls, loads of forestry, an Iron Age fort, a neolithic burial site with standing stones, and Whiting Bay beach where this year we have been visited by many dolphins, seals and wild birds. There are various walking and cycle trails around the area and through the woods - there are many quiet spots to find for meditation, journalling or contemplation. In the field itself and in the surrounding area there are frogs, bees, butterflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers, sparrows, buzzards, housemartins swooping and diving after the midges and other flying insects and many other creatures including red squirrels (there are no grey squirrels on the island), voles and mice. Elsewhere on the island there are otters, owls, golden eagles and adders and in the waters there are wildlife havens (no catch zones) where many species of sea life flourish. We even have dinosaur footprints in the south of the island for those who are interested in deep time. Arran is a wonderfully quiet and restful place to recharge the batteries. It is often described as “Scotland in miniature”: there are mountains, rivers, ancient rocks, waterfalls, forests, glens, beaches, many standing stones pointing at the mystery of the Universe, and according to folklore, faeries. The night skies are dark with great views of the Milky Way, the planets and the deeper cosmos. Traffic sounds are rare away from the coastal road, offering peace and an older archetypal connection with seasonal time than we might encounter in our busy urban lives. I thoroughly recommend you spend some time here. I will be offering short retreats at various points throughout the year, allowing clients to focus on their personal work such as living with grief, letting go of that which no longer serves us well, dealing with burnout, self care, finding your own direction, living with international conflict and climate change to name a few. Bring binoculars and a camera if you have one - ecophotography is another way of connecting with nature. Please contact me if you are interested.

Reflective Practice, Personal and Professional Development Group for Recently Qualified Clinical and Counselling Psychologists (up to 5 years post qualification)

One of the great things about our profession is that the learning never stops. We encounter many situations and experiences in our personal and working lives which help us to grow as a psychologist. Sometimes it is the CPD that helps. Sometimes it is the changing contexts we work in, with the challenging interpersonal and situational issues we face and work through. Sometimes it is the tough times we encounter personally, and hopefully learn from, that help us to mature and develop as psychologists and psychotherapists.

Starting out a career in psychology post-qualification is often rewarding but can be isolating, extremely challenging and confusing. The first few years are the ones when we discover all the stuff we don’t know, that they didn’t manage to teach us on the training course. These are the times when we need to develop our professional confidence and resilience as the occupational pressures of a full caseload and impossible demands are encountered head on.

This monthly group is for recently qualified clinical and counselling psychologists (let’s say up to 5 years) who would like a containing, confidential and safe space to share, reflect, support and learn from each others’ experiences of living and working as a qualified clinical or counselling psychologist. Everything is on the table. All of human life will be here.

If this sounds like your tribe then please get in touch

Anti-Racism Reflective Practice Groups in the NHS and Social Services

The recent NHS Race and Health Observatory report (2022) collated the published evidence of racism and its adverse effects upon physical and mental health, and concluded that racism and institutional racism is very much in evidence currently across the NHS. If you work in the NHS and would like training and/or facilitation of anti-racism reflective practice groups in your area of work please get in touch.

A tree planted for every new client

I discovered by chance that an increasing number of companies are planting a tree when a client e.g. makes a purchase and I thought that was a fantastic idea. So I want to do the same. Here is how it works. I will pay for a tree to be planted on behalf of each new client via tree-nation.com (a new client is someone who has a paid for sessions with me). It doesn’t cost you anything and it is a living symbol of new growth and making positive change that we are working on together. Nice. Here’s to more trees.

Anti-Racism Reflective Practice

I’m several months late with this update, but I’m delighted to add that since February 2021 I’ve been running two reflective practice groups for clinical and counselling psychologists, focusing on anti-racism and reflective practice. The impetus for developing these groups came from shared outrage about the death of George Floyd in USA but also from the growing voices of non-white psychologists and trainees in the UK who rightly have been raising the profile of the problem of racism in our profession and in e.g. the NHS. Non-white psychologists have been demanding that white people listen, read, do their own reflecting and their own training on anti-racism instead of expecting that non-white people should provide this for them. Fair enough. The groups meet monthly and were almost immediately fully booked up. They are provided at no charge for 12 months.