Don't Get A Therapist... Yet!

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Matt Hussey a journalist and a psychotherapist in private practice, podcaster and author. Matt and Wendy discuss how simply assigning a label to someone or their condition confines who they think they are and can disengage them from their recovery, the way labelling impacts how society functions, and why therapists need to challenge the way mental health conditi...

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Andy Baker, an amazing person that does amazing things. He is a behavioural specialist with 19+ years’ experience, author, public speaker, trainer, educator, business mentor, parenting mentor, podcast host and more. Over the years he has worked with children, adults, people with learning disabilities and does a lot of work in the dementia field.   Working across...

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Michelle Hoffman, a Stanford University social scientist and best-selling author. Today, she and Wendy discuss her journey from enjoying a fulfilling life with her husband to becoming a single parent when he sadly died.  Michelle shares several of the strategies she used to enable herself and her children to cope with grief, such as inviting emotions in, putting...

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Ousha Demello, a former business lecturer with over 15 years in education, who transformed her life through entrepreneurship. Doing so after suffering in a marriage where emotional abuse and mental torture from her husband and his family was a daily occurrence.  Ousha explains how ignoring her gut feelings led to her bad marriage and how she freed herself, moved...

In this episode, Wendy is joined by clinical psychologist, author, trainer and researcher Dr Chris Irons, who helps people find new ways to understand and tackle their distress. Dr Irons is a big advocate of Compassion Focus Therapy (CFT). He outlines what CFT is, why it is so effective and how to use it. KEY TAKEAWAYS CFT helps people who have not found success with other treatments. Often, it's...

Today, Wendy is joined by clinical psychologist Dr Natalie Stott. Her main clients are doctors, nurses, physios and those who care for others. She is EMDR trained but mainly uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help her clients deal with work related stress, burnout, perfectionism and a range of other issues.   Dr Stott explains how ACT works. Including providing an in-depth example of...

Today, Wendy is joined by Dr Monika Wieliczko, a licensed clinical psychologist who specialises in grief, trauma and loss. She shares how losing her husband to bowel cancer inspired her to create the "Grief MOT," a first aid course for grief, to help individuals understand their grieving journey and found the online therapeutic community -  A Guide to After Life. KEY TAKEAWAYS Grief affects cognit...

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Jess White the amazing entrepreneur behind Yogi Tribe and the Spark Business Network. Jess has been practising yoga for 25 years and teaching it for 10.  She also works to bring a yoga spirit to business. Jess runs Spark networking events that bring business owners and would-be entrepreneurs together from diverse backgrounds and industries to spark ideas, inspir...

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Dr. Sally Conway, a clinical psychologist, coach for highly sensitive people, and a qualified EMDR practitioner. Sally, who is herself highly sensitive, explains why HSPs are very prone to people pleasing to the extent that they neglect themselves and why even relatively small stressors can easily overwhelm them.  Sally shares techniques highly sensitive people...

Wendy has the pleasure of welcoming Alejandro Argüelles Bullón from Gazing Red2Blue, a dedicated mental health advocate, who has also suffered from anxiety. Alejandro and Wendy discuss why anxiety in men is underdiagnosed, the differences between how men and women process anxiety and which therapies work best for most men. They also discuss dealing with anxiety performance and the use of medicatio...

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Caroline Van Diest a senior EMDR trainer and CBT therapist who also uses techniques from IFS and ACT. She explains how EMDR helps people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress from their past that are influencing their nervous system. Using examples Caroline demystifies EMDR and explains why it works so well and is also effective for neurodivergent ind...

Today, Wendy welcomes Esther Wiskerke, originally from The Netherlands, with a diverse background of working across continents and sectors. Esther has called London home for nearly 20 years and completed her MSc at King’s College in 2015. She is now a Visiting Fellow at London Metropolitan University. As the Founding Director of Symbiosia, her work reflects a fresh vision for conflict resolution a...

Today, Wendy is joined by Dr Amber Johnston, a neuropsychologist and Director of Healthy Mind Psychology. She helps people whose brains have been injured to adapt to life after injury. To either fully rehabilitate or if that is not possible to adapt to changes in their behaviour, personality and cognition. KEY TAKEAWAYS The brain adapts and reshapes itself throughout our entire life. When full rec...

Today, Wendy is joined by Dr Sonia Ahmed a counselling psychologist and EMDR therapist who specialises in trauma and South Asian mental health needs. Currently, her focus is on domestic abuse and honour-based abuse such as forced marriages. She also provides online South Asian mental health training for other mental health professionals. Sonia explains how being sandwiched between two cultures cre...

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Christine Dunkley who is a consultant trainer of DBT, international author and emotional regulation specialist. She explains how DBT enables you to regulate your emotions. So, you can decrease or increase them when you need to. It is not about ignoring that emotion and its message, its about keeping your reaction in line with the seriousness of the situation. KE...

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Karen Patterson a very experienced trainer and expert in mental health services. She has trained hundreds of people from a wide range of health settings. Wendy and Karen discuss how connecting, being active, taking notice, learning, and giving protects your mental health and helps those who already have issues to fully recovery. KEY TAKEAWAYS Many people who hav...

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Karen Gilbert a perfumery teacher who is an expert in using scents for well-being.  Karen explains how to use scents to shift your mood. This simple and powerful method can be immediately accessed and used by anyone. Wendy also talks about the science behind how scent affects our brains and how to tap into that to improve your mental and emotional health. KEY TA...

In this episode, Wendy walks you through a safe place meditation exercise. The technique she shares can be done either lying down or in a seated position. You will learn how to use your breath to calm and relax your body so that your mind can open up and picture a safe place that you will enjoy. Wendy explains how to engage and use all of your senses to intensify the experience of being in that sa...

Today, Wendy is joined by Anna Pluck, an experienced counsellor who specialises in anxiety, which she had to overcome herself. Anna used that experience to develop strategies anyone can use, 5 of which she shares in this episode. KEY TAKEAWAYS Anxiety can be overcome. Take a break from bad news and negativity. Mindfulness and box breathing are far easier than you think. Get out in nature. Graduall...

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Taiba Bajar an author and autism expert whose son experienced autism regression at 20 months. He stopped making eye contact, walking, and rarely ate. When Taiba realised he was not going to get enough support from the NHS and education system, she studied autism. What she found out enabled her to create a 7-step process that healed her son from the inside and un...

In this episode, Wendy talks about Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), which was started by Professor Paul Gilbert OBE. He identified the three levels of emotional systems that play a role in how we feel and, therefore, act. All three of these can be dialled up and down to help us remain emotionally balanced. Today, Wendy introduces the concept, explains how it works and tells us what each of the Th...

Today, Wendy is joined by Dr Debs Eastwood, a practicing anaesthetic speciality doctor. Her brother´s bone cancer and treatment journey inspired Debs to learn more about Holistic Health methods and incorporate them into her practice. To further this work, she is currently in the process of creating a new kind of wellness and health support clinic that will also be able to offer a few select servic...

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Dr Natalie Gillbanks, a consultant counselling psychologist whose main focus has been on eating disorders, in particular anorexia. She shares some of the reasons people succumb to the illness and explains why some groups of people are more prone to suffering from eating disorders. As well as explaining how to spot the early signs and what to do about it. KEY TAK...

In this episode, Wendy is joined by Laura and Barry Ash who are the co-founders of Rock Solid. They help people to transform their health and wellbeing. Including teaching people stress management and how to avoid or come back from physical, emotional, or mental health burnout. They explain how to learn to listen to your body and deal with stress in a healthy way. KEY TAKEAWAYS Burnout is a common...

In this episode, Wendy talks about a specific component of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) – how to challenge the rigid self-beliefs that are playing a role in your feeling stuck and unhappy. She explains the importance of recognizing and transforming these beliefs and shares two simple exercises to help with that. Using these exercises will enable you to begin to challenge and change rigi...