Being in it Together

28/08/2026

Loss doesn’t have to involve death to leave us grieving.

We can grieve the end of a relationship, a friendship, a job, a dream, a home, our health or the person we used to be. Yet we often minimise these experiences, telling ourselves that other people have it worse or that we should have moved on by now.

In her new blog post, “Loss is Loss is Loss”, Jacqui reflects on the many forms loss can take and the importance of allowing our grief to be real.

Whatever you have lost, your feelings do not need to be justified or compared.

Read Jacqui’s new post:
https://beinginittogether.co.uk/loss-is-loss-is-loss/

Who teaches us about the losses we're going to experience in life; how to face them, what it means to keep moving forward? Who enters adulthood feeling truly

24/07/2026

New Blog Post: Books for the frozen sea within us.

David explores and recommends five books that have been meaningful to him and his inner life and how reading itself can be healing.

Read the full reflection:

https://beinginittogether.co.uk/books-for-the-frozen-sea-within-us

18/07/2026

Dear Fellow Traveller #1: Can AI Really Be a Therapist?

ChatGPT can respond with warmth, ask reflective questions and offer words that genuinely help. For someone who is lonely or isolated, that comfort should not be dismissed.

But should we call it therapy?

In the first piece of our new Dear Fellow Traveller series, David considers what AI can offer and what may be missing when there is no other human being present to be moved, surprised or changed by us.

“It matters where words come from, not just what they are.”

Read the full reflection here:
https://beinginittogether.co.uk/can-ai-really-be-a-therapist

Dear Fellow Traveller begins with the questions people struggle with, wonder about and carry through life. You can also submit a question anonymously for a future piece:

https://beinginittogether.co.uk/dear-fellow-traveller-question

16/07/2026

New blog post: First dates — slow and steady wins the race

Modern dating can place enormous pressure on a first meeting. We are encouraged to look for butterflies, fireworks and an instant sense that we have found “the one”.

But is intense chemistry always a good sign?

This new post explores why a calm, enjoyable first date may offer more promise than an overwhelming spark — and why kindness, safety, curiosity and friendship can be the foundations of something far more lasting.

Read the full article here:

Dating is an unnecessary pressure cooker these days.

06/07/2026

New blog post: The Roar of Paper Tigers

There is the kind of fear that helps us when danger is real. If a tiger jumps out at you, fear is useful. It focuses the body. It gives you something to do.

But dread is different.

Dread is quieter. It sits behind things and colours everything. It tells you not to trust beauty when it appears, not to relax when things are going well, not to believe that life can be simple, enjoyable or alive.

In the blog, I write about how much of modern dread may not be purely personal at all. It may come from the culture we live in: pressure, comparison, productivity, bills, notifications, expectations, endless demands.

A whole world of paper tigers roaring at once:

Be better. Keep up. Don’t fall behind. Be impressive. Make more money. Know what you’re doing.

And yet, there is no requirement in life to live forever under that cloud.

This piece is about recognising dread, reclaiming perspective, and beginning to tell the difference between real tigers, paper tigers, and the inherited dread of an exhausting culture.

Read it here:

04/07/2026

Do you say yes when you'd really like to say no?

Most of us don't struggle because we don't know how to say no. We struggle because we fear what might happen if we do.

Disappointment. Conflict. Guilt. Rejection.

So we say yes… and quietly pay the price afterwards.

If you've ever found yourself overcommitted, exhausted, or wondering why you're always putting everyone else first, this new blog post is for you.

Read it here:
https://beinginittogether.co.uk/do-you-say-when-youd-really-like-to-say-no/

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Have you found it difficult to say no?

Where have you said yes this week and quietly regretted it afterwards?

01/07/2026

Some people move through the world with a thinner skin and a deeper nervous system.

Our new page on therapy for highly sensitive people explores what it can be like to feel deeply, notice everything, become overwhelmed easily, and still carry a quiet richness that is too often misunderstood.

Sensitivity is not weakness. It may be something in you that needs understanding, care, and space to breathe.

Read more here: https://beinginittogether.co.uk/therapy-for-highly-sensitive-people

Counselling and psychotherapy for individuals, couples and groups in Bristol, Exeter and Taunton. Online therapy available across the UK. Free consultation.

28/06/2026

To love another truly, first we must learn how to meet ourselves with love.

Sometimes relationships struggle not because love is absent, but because we do not know how to receive it. We long for closeness, and yet we protect ourselves from it. We want to be loved, but struggle to believe we are worthy of it.

Love is not rescue. Your partner cannot heal every wound or carry every fear. But they can stand beside you, support you, challenge you, and love you as the flawed human being you are.

For couples, the question is not always, “Do we love each other?”

Sometimes it is:

“Can we learn to meet ourselves and each other with more honesty, courage, and care?”

Read the full blog post here:

To love another truly, first we must love ourselves.

22/06/2026

New reflection: Let the Music Do Its Thing

https://beinginittogether.co.uk/let-the-music-do-its-thing/

Yesterday, we were lucky enough to sit and listen to two wonderfully talented young musicians play piano and violin.

For an hour, there was nothing to fix, nothing to solve, nothing to analyse. Just music unfolding.

It made us think about how strange and difficult it can be to simply receive an experience. To let something happen without immediately trying to understand it, control it, or turn it into something useful.

And, funnily enough, that has something in common with therapy.

You can sit in front of beautiful music and spend the whole time somewhere else in your head. You can come to therapy with a tight agenda, a demand for answers, a need to force progress, and miss what is actually happening.

Sometimes something deeper opens when we bring curiosity, openness, and a willingness to be with experience as it unfolds.

Our new blog post is now live:

Let the Music Do Its Thing

https://beinginittogether.co.uk/let-the-music-do-its-thing/

(Image created by AI)