Branch Counselling

06/08/2026

🍃Sometimes therapists need a moment of self care, today mine was smooshing paint 🫟💛

30/07/2026

🌊I'm proud to be part of this anthology, different writers all ending with the line ‘by morning, the sea had taken it’. My first published fiction writing, but as always rooted in mental health. 🌊💛 Lemon Jelly Press

https://www.lemonjellypress.com/shop/p/pre-order-by-morning-the-sea-had-taken-it

27/07/2026

In my latest Substack article, I share Keisha's story - a 15-year-old caught in the systemic gap between primary care thresholds and secondary NHS provision - and explore the heavy ethical dilemma this creates for solo private practitioners.

How do we ethically hold high-risk, complex clients without burning out, crossing our boundary lines, or trying to single-handedly fix a broken healthcare system... and should we?

📖 Read the full piece on Substack below.

I’d love to hear from fellow therapists, supervisors and those on the wait list: How are you managing the 'referral gap'?

The Invisible Gap in Therapeutic Care

22/07/2026

Summer counselling work days are the best days!

15/07/2026

Taking a break is always a good time to reflect on your stressors.
This last week, as I finished my Fab ice lolly, I have learned that the urge to write is my barometer of calm. No words flow when my eye is twitching, and I am marching up and down corridors.
We might think we know what stress is, but it isn’t one distinct thing. Considering our own markers of stress, alongside clients’ own experiences, the current media depiction of stress and the developing science of stress can be a lot to hold.
Add more to the conversation about stress here:

How can we truly work with stress?

07/07/2026

When working with young adults, traditional talking therapy can sometimes feel too exposing, and - while I love a game of Jenga - standard games can feel a bit too limiting.
I’ve always found that the media and games our clients love are an amazing source of exploration. But how do we bridge the gap between their fictional worlds and their real-world struggles?
In my new Substack article, I share a case study of how therapeutic tabletop gaming allowed a young man to fail safely, drop his armour, and build real-world resilience, roll by roll.
Fellow therapists, how are you using narrative or gaming in your rooms? 🎲👇

Rehearsing for Reality: A Practical Guide to RPGs in Youth Therapy

30/06/2026

Even in talking therapies, sometimes our clients need different ways to communicate. Whilst we have creative tools to do so, in overwhelm and shut down - direct communication of needs is clear. Until Saturday 4th July you can download these cards for free from my latest Substack article, and at my website for a small cost afterwards.

27/06/2026

What do you do when a young person’s words go offline in therapy? When a shutdown is real, pressure to speak is a demand.
My new article on Substack rethinks how we meet this silence.
🎁 Plus, I’m giving away my Branch Communication Cards PDF for FREE this week only! Get yours here:

Rethinking How We Meet Client Shutdown in the Therapy Room

10/06/2026

🍃 My latest Substack article, "Room For Two: Navigating In-Session Mirroring", explores the reality of the "wounded healer." Through a creative case study, we look at what happens when a client's relationship anxiety perfectly mirrors the therapist's private life, and how to navigate that intense emotional bleed safely.
We dive into:
* Somatic co-regulation in the room
* Helping young adults challenge the "mind-reading" trap
* The vital safety net of clinical supervision

📝 Read it here:

Moving around the house that morning felt like moving through palpable tension; her heart paused, ready for the tentative routines to rupture into cross words, spat with spite.

01/06/2026

🍃 Safeguarding policy says: Hear an issue, write down the facts, and report it. But anyone on the front line knows that real-world disclosures are never that neat. They are garbled, evasive, and hidden behind "broaching behaviours" or somatic cues.

In my latest Substack piece, I share a fictional case study that looks at the messy, unspoken reality of institutional safeguarding, the friction between therapists and burnt-out management, the crushing weight of 630,000 annual referrals, and why we have to look past the "textbook" to actually get a child heard.

More importantly, it explores practitioner self-care because you cannot fix a broken institutional system with a single cup of lukewarm coffee.

💛 Read the full piece here:

A disclosure rarely goes by the textbook.