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On my last day at a supported living service, I took one final look at my ID card before handing it back. The work had brought me alongside people living with neurodevelopmental conditions, brain injuries, mental health difficulties and additional medical needs. I got to know the person behind each diagnosis and listened to stories that were often heartbreaking. Some had established careers and independent lives until an injury or illness changed everything. Others have lived

You've been going to counselling for weeks. You've talked about the panic and the nights you can't sleep. Then, with two sessions left, you hear yourself say something you promised yourself you would never tell anyone. If that has happened to you, or you're worried it might, this one is for you. You haven't done therapy wrong. You haven't left it too late. It's far more common than you'd think, and there are good reasons behind it. I see this from the other chair As a trainee

Holding space for someone means holding their pain too. So often, people carry that pain alone: grieving someone they've lost or watching time play a cruel game as someone they love slowly declines. Sometimes it takes years. Sometimes months. Age, terminal illness, a mental health crisis that won't lift. The grief can be for a person who has already gone or for a relationship that no longer exists as it once did. But grief doesn't always wait for an ending. Sometimes it's ant

I work in mental health. Not in the abstract, case-study sense, but in the everyday one: sitting across from someone in a session, walking the corridor at work, filling out notes after a shift that didn't go how anyone hoped. I see what this work does to people. I feel it too. Working in mental health is not one job. It's psychiatrists, psychologists across every speciality, psychotherapists, counsellors, support workers and practitioners, and those working with children and

It’s June. The heat sits heavy and uninvited, leaving you gasping for air and dreaming of a trip to the beach. But you wake up damp, already tired, your body behaving strangely. This is not what you are used to. Somewhere in the middle of all of it, you catch yourself thinking: “I do not quite recognise myself any more.” This thought is one of the most well-documented psychological experiences of perimenopause, yet we rarely discuss it enough. This Is Not Just a Physical Tran

A personal note before we begin. I am in my late thirties. I am also, in almost every meaningful sense of the phrase, starting over. Amended career path. A new relationship that arrived out of nowhere as a surprise and changed everything. A new version of myself that I am still, tentatively, learning to inhabit. And alongside all of that: the grief of who I used to be. Nobody tells you that starting over feels like loss before it feels like freedom. This piece is for anyone w

If you haven't read Part 1 yet, I'd encourage you to go back and start there. This piece will land differently if you do. Let me start with a confession. With something that took me a long time to admit. When I first encountered love that was genuinely steady, I didn't trust it. Not because there was anything wrong with it. But because my nervous system had no map for it. It didn't feel like the love I had been chasing. It didn't hurt in the right places. It didn't keep me gu

A personal note before we begin, as always. I don't write about theory from a distance. Everything I share here comes from a genuine belief that the most powerful thing we can offer each other is honesty. Not something carefully curated. But something brutally real. Because growth and healing come from the ability to be vulnerable and authentic. And this is what trembles sometimes as it finds its way onto the page. There is a feeling most of us know. It arrives without warnin

You always hear it, it practically flows from the taps: Trust your gut. Your instincts never lie. If something feels wrong, it probably is. It 's one of the most universally offered pieces of advice when it comes to relationships, and on the surface, it sounds empowering. Your body as a compass. Your feelings as a truth-teller. Don’t overthink; just listen within. But what if that’s not exactly correct? That advice can fail to mention the alternatives. If you've lived throug

A personal note before we begin. I don't write about theory from a distance. I never have. Everything I share on The Honest Journey comes from a genuine belief that the most powerful thing we can offer each other is honesty. Not the polished, carefully curated kind, but the real, sometimes uncomfortable, occasionally trembling kind. I am a trainee psychotherapist, a psychology graduate, and a woman who has done significant work on her own healing. I understand attachment theo

I was talking with a friend recently and we found ourselves reflecting on trauma, and how deeply our past experiences shape our sense of self and our behaviour. It was one of those conversations that stays with you long after it ends. And somewhere in the middle of it, a question surfaced that I have not been able to let go of: how do you know where self-preservation ends and self-sabotage begins? What You Went Through Leaves Its Mark If you have ever lived through Adverse Ch

Valentine's Day. For some, it's a day of romance and celebration. For others, it brings up feelings of loneliness, pressure, or inadequacy. Regardless of your relationship status, or healing from heartbreak, or somewhere in between, the cultural weight of this day can feel overwhelming. But if you think about it properly, you’ll see that Valentine's Day doesn't necessarily have to be about romantic love alone. And it certainly doesn't have to leave you feeling 'less than' if

There are moments when someone we care about is struggling, and we feel it in our chest before we even have the words for it. Maybe they've become quieter. Maybe they're putting on a brave face or a smile that doesn't quite reach their eyes. Maybe they've told us something that scared us, and we're lying awake wondering what to say or do. The instinct to help is one of the most human things about us. But so is the fear of getting it wrong. This article is for those moments. F

In Part 1, we talked about what self-harm is, why young people do it, and the warning signs to look for. If you haven't read that yet, I'd encourage you to start there. But understanding is only half the journey. Now comes the harder part: what do you actually do ? If you've discovered that someone you love is hurting themselves, you're probably feeling a mix of emotions right now. Fear. Guilt. Anger, even. Maybe a desperate urge to fix it, to take the pain away, to make it s

A gentle note before we begin: This article discusses self-harm in detail. If you're currently struggling, please be gentle with yourself as you read. If you're a parent or carer seeking to understand, thank you for being here. Your willingness to learn could make all the difference to a young person in your life. Few things are more terrifying for a parent than discovering their child has been hurting themselves. The shock, the guilt, the desperate questions: Why didn't I se

If you've been following The Honest Journey, you might have read my recent piece about living with undiagnosed neurodivergence. But there's something I didn't fully explore in that article: for most of us, it's never just one thing. Maybe you've got an ADHD diagnosis, but you also can't sleep. You're anxious all the time. Your stomach never feels quite right. You're exhausted in ways that coffee can't fix. Maybe you've mentioned these things to doctors over the years, but the

Sometimes you feel the buzz and are full of energy. You're on fire, ticking things off your list, feeling like you can take on the world. But other times? You find yourself sitting on the edge of your bed, barely alive, unable to face the day. Does this sound familiar? You're unable to get out of bed or get anything done. You sit there, seeing exactly how much needs to be done, but you feel paralysed. Then it starts escalating. You begin blaming yourself. Your inner critic ge

When it comes to understanding our mental well-being, staying updated with the latest research can feel overwhelming. But what if I told you that recent mental health studies UK are opening new doors to how we approach mental health care, support, and self-awareness? It’s an exciting time, and I want to share some of the most promising trends that could make a real difference in your life or the life of someone you care about. Exploring New Frontiers in Mental Health Studies

When you're in a relationship, it can be surprisingly difficult to see clearly. Love, history, and hope have a way of clouding our perspective. We might explain away behaviours that concern us, or we might not realise that what we're experiencing isn't normal because it's all we've ever known. It doesn’t mean labelling your partner as "good" or "bad." Relationships exist on a spectrum, and even healthy ones have difficult moments. What matters is the overall pattern: how you

Have you ever looked back on a relationship and thought, "How did I miss that?" You're not alone, and you're definitely not foolish. It’s more common than you think. And it’s not because you’re stupid or blind. Our brains are wired for connection, and sometimes that wiring works against us. Okay, let me break it down into digestible pieces. When we meet someone we are attracted to, we see everything in a different light. We see the chosen one’s positive characteristics and o