Could it be that our children are self-medicating with Sound?

I’ve always believed our brains try to find a way to help us out. When clients come to me feeling low, one of the questions I ask is...

“What seems to help?”

The client usually manages to reel off at least a couple of things that seem to lift their mood slightly, quite often to their own surprise.

We as humans want to be happy and healthy, and our brain and body is doing the best it can in the background.

Some people genuinely do already have or create for themselves a negative chemical change in the brain, which can lead to feelings attached to depression.

Others have irrational or rational fears and worries that don’t seem to leave their heads bringing them down in a spiral of depression.

Breaking that cycle of constant woe and gloom is extremely difficult and seems impossible for some.

So what if there was an easy and regular way to actually affect the pathways and chemicals in the brain physically? How much would that give us a boost out of depressive states?

It has been discovered that sounds such as music are capable of reliably affecting moods and emotions by affecting the dopamine in the brain (so they suspect). Dopamine is a neurotransmitter heavily involved in emotional behaviour and mood regulation.

Depending on your genetics though depends on what type of sound or piece of music is most effective at stimulating your individual dopamine.

You may well enjoy listening to heavy rock, when all you actually need to lift your spirits is a spot of Bach!

“We are really excited about our results because they suggest that even a non-pharmacological intervention such as music, might regulate mood and emotional responses at both the behavioural and neuronal level," says Professor Elvira Brattico.

Can you imagine... soon we might find ourselves getting referred by our GP for a ‘personalised music-based intervention’ for the treatment of depression and anxiety rather than taking anti depressant and anti anxiety drugs.

I personally have seen many teenagers walking around with their earphones in, are they already self-medicating without consciously realising it?

I have also had many clients that find music an important part of their relaxation regime. Do we already know this deep down? Perhaps music just didn’t seem to be a viable or strong enough cure?

My son is taking a Music Degree, and is considering taking that work and combining it with psychology to be a specialist in Music Therapy. He believes in the power of music and this has certainly opened my eyes up to it.

Isn’t it amazing how sometimes the cure can simply be right under our nose... or in this case next to our ears!!

So if you haven’t already compiled your favourite ‘feel-good’ music list, it’s scientifically proven to be beneficial. Keeping your music choice diverse is key, perhaps you’ll notice how much more lifted you feel after particular genres of music and then get more of the same.

Task: Try listening to a diverse choice of music twice a day and see how your moods are affected to get your ultimate dopamine affecting compilation.

Written by Sam Crook Director at Therapy for Life.
www.therapyforlife.co.uk

Source : Sciencedaily

Pluralistic Counselling... The Ultimate Therapeutic Approach?

Cheap 'Counselling Supervision' in Southend-on-Sea ***£15 for 1.5 hours***

Recently qualified supervisors looking to build working hours.

Gain your required supervision hours for a fraction of normal charges.

Supervision: 1.5 hour session costs £15

Please register your interest with Sam: sam.c@therapyforlife.co.uk

Prittlewell HouseSuite 8/8a30 East StreetSouthend-on-Sea SS2 6LH

Supervision held in modern bright rooms in a Grade II listed house

Have your CPD/Training event completely arranged & earn what you want

My role in your training/CPD event is to: 

• Make a plan to estimate ticket cost, prospective interest, number of attendees and earnings required
• Find the correct venue
• Advertise 
• Send E-tickets and arrange CPD certificates
• Answer all questions and liaise with attendees up until the event
• Arrange everything that is needed for the day/s including projector/microphones/chairs/coffee,tea,water,biscuits,food etc.
• Help out as needed on the day/s and hire extra help if needed.

Alternatively you may be looking at video training,

in which we can film, advertise and setup payment online.

It really depends on what you want and how you imagine it happening.
It can be:

• A regular setup
• A set of training days
• or a one off.

To start with, give me an idea of the subject, how many sessions you’d like to deliver and the size of the audience you want in front of you.

Then perhaps we we will have a meeting to plan the rest and gauge outside interest.

Please contact Sam:

sam.c@therapyforlife.co.uk

07546 917252

Stuck on a Waiting List? Can’t afford Counselling? Really need help?... Sessions from £15 on a new scheme

At Therapy for Life, we can now offer counselling that’s affordable for everyone in Southend-on-Sea.

If you don’t mind having treatment from recently qualified counsellors, or counsellors undergoing the last parts of training... we have found your solution!

Our counsellors are supervised and monitored and are up to date with all the latest techniques and skills in psychology.

For £15-£20 per hour, you will benefit from their expertise in a modern comfortable room. We are a friendly group of counsellors and you will be very welcomed.

Many people have negative preconceptions of therapy, if you’ve never been sure whether it would suit you, or you had a bad experience in therapy... This is your chance to give it a try with us for very little expenditure. You never know, you may really benefit...

We only have space for a few clients under this new scheme, so do contact us and book in as soon as possible... We will start running these sessions from September 2016.

You will be given an initial assessment on the phone with Sam, then your counsellor will communicate with you to arrange a suitable date and time.

Terms & Conditions:

• Cash is to be paid upfront at each session.
• Your attendance is expected unless you ring to cancel (early that morning at the latest if possible in emergencies).
• There will be a minimum charge of £12 if you fail 2 consecutive sessions or more without ringing to cancel (please cancel sessions ideally at least 24 hours before to avoid charges). These failure charges are put in place because room rent still needs to be paid whether the client turns up or not.
• If you fail to attend 2 or more sessions successively without ringing to cancel, or your attendance is very poor, your place could be given to someone else
• You are entitled to have an initial 6 sessions then a review to see if more are needed. You may have up to 12 sessions at this reduced fee, then the session fee goes up to the normal concessional rate at Therapy for Life if long term therapy is required.
• To qualify, you must prove that you are on Income Support, Benefits, Pension Credits or Job Seekers Allowance at your first session. If you are on a low wage and can prove it but don't receive benefits, you can still be entitled to the help, every case is considered.
• Your financial situation will determine your fee, our negotiation on fee relies on clients being honest about what they can truly afford, at the end of the day we'd rather you get the help you need, but understandably bills must still be paid at Therapy for Life. 

Contact Sam: sam.c@therapyforlife.co.uk/ 07546 917252

www.therapyforlife.co.uk

Would you like to hold a Presentation, Informal Talk or Training Day around the Subject of Mental Health?

At Therapy For Life, we can make all the necessary arrangements for your talk

You can specify whether you want:

• A Small group or open up to a larger audience.
• From a small meeting room up to a 200 person Lecture Room.
• Refreshments & Breaks.
• Help on the day in the background.
• Printed leaflets
• Presentation facility/ microphones/screens/ whiteboard/ projector
• Your logo and branding on advertising

We can advertise to the local Mental Health Community and/or General Public.
But also Further afield through larger business links.
Our advertisements are professionally done by a web designer

We have spent a lot of time building our links within the industry to get the audience you are interested in talking to.

We also supply your clients on the day with CPD certificates.

Organise all the payment online.

Keep you updated with all progress.

All you need to do is contact Sam for an informal chat and I can send you options for whatever you have in mind.

Let me know what you want to earn from your talk and I'll plan the budget around what you want to earn.

If you like talking but have never had time to organise anything, then let me...

Plan it  *  Advertise it  *  Organise it

All for you

Contact Sam on sam.c@therapyforlife.co.uk

Last day for Victoria Counselling Diploma Group

I was invited to speak at Victoria Counselling last night, being an ex student myself.
It's always helpful for new students to see what's possible after study. 

What a lovely group they are. Liz Jarman the tutor (3rd from the left) said quietly to me:

 "I'm going to miss this group, they are lovely"

This bright intelligent group of women have been let loose into the world trained and ready to help people with Mental Health issues. 

"It's surprising how difficult it is to find a job, considering there is such a need for help in this area." 

was a comment from the group.

Which is true, but many jobs are not advertised, it's through networking and knowing people in the trade where the opportunities mainly come your way.

My intention with the talk was to pass on some tips, I'm not much further ahead of these ladies in my  Counselling Career,  but having started a business and finally finding a job in a school, it was good to relay some of the procedures and efforts I went through to get there.

The most important thing I couldn't stress enough was to stay connected. Unlike other business, we should never look upon each other as competition. Most of my success has been through communication with likeminded professionals and as my practice grows, I will pass on the same favour and help to other trusted colleagues in the future.

The lovely thing about this business is that I have made life long friends through it, Liz being one of them. Initially my tutor, now a very close friend. I can see within this group of women that friendships will stay alive also. The humour was great and they were very welcoming towards me... so thank you for a lovely evening ladies, and I wish you tonnes of luck in life and career.

Most importantly... STAY IN TOUCH

Sam from Therapy for Life
www.therapyforlife.co.uk

An Evening with Professor Windy Dryden

Please got to http://eepurl.com/b2-MBP to register your interest

Excessive empathy can impair understanding.

A recent study in Germany enabled scientists to prove that people who tend to be empathic do not necessarily have the additional skills to understand people well at a cognitive level.

The study also discovered insight as to how the different networks in the brain are orchestrated, revealing that networks crucial for empathy and cognitive perspective do interact with one another, and in highly emotional moments

for example when somebody talks about the death of a close person

activation of the insula, (which forms part of the empathy-relevant network), can have an inhibiting effect in some people on brain areas important for taking someone else's perspective. This in turn can cause excessive empathy to impair social understanding.

Personally from a counsellor’s perspective there is a fine balance between empathy and cognitive understanding when entering into a client’s world and attempting to see things from their perspective.

“Is it possible as therapists to keep our empathy under control so it doesn’t run to excess?”

I think so... I feel a sense of duty of care to my clients to ensure my feelings don’t run away with me in light of their situations. That seems to keep my empathy in check and allows me to dip into it throughout the session.

After all, uncontrollable empathy can turn to sympathy which is not professional and in fact detrimental to client progress. Although it hasn’t happened to me yet, it’s possible that someone could just tip me over the edge with a sad story, and if I find my emotions too much to handle, I would need to seek supervision to guide my decision on how best to serve that client.

The study sees cognitive understanding and empathy as two different social skills, but the scientists proved they can affect each other and that heightened empathy around a person’s predicament can reduce your cognitive understanding of it.

That is certainly something we don’t want happening in Therapy! Part of the counsellors job is get a real understanding of what everything means to the client. The client can sometimes do an excellent job of describing their thoughts and feelings to the therapist, and our job is to read between the lines, and for that our cognitive perspective ideally should not be diminished by over empathising.

Growing up I remember getting very upset when I didn’t understand someone’s meaning. My emotion would start to swell at the beginning of a conversation sometimes in expectation of the fact that I wouldn’t comprehend. So I soon realised my excessive emotion was the culprit in my diminished understanding not my intelligence.

Was this the beginnings of me learning to control my emotion? Possibly.... Maybe that’s why I now feel I have a good handle on my empathy in therapy, allowing me to really listen to people.

So as counsellors, there are many good qualities and skills we should have, but perhaps it’s not just about simply having those qualities but...

How we use them and how we control them, after all, these are skills in themselves.

Ultimately our aim is to provide the most successful and productive sessions we possibly can for our clients.

If you or someone you know needs help, please contact Sam at Therapy for Life
Source of Scientific Research

Mental Health help for children and parents

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We are a group of therapists who are also parents and we want to let parents and children know at your school that there is help for families locally.

We can help:

• Teach communication skills.
• Give parents and children the opportunity to discuss their worries.
• Bring families closer together.
• Discover what is causing bad behaviour and attitude.
• Discover what is causing shyness and social phobias.
• Improve concentration resulting in better school work.
• Teach organisation skills to help with work load and motivation.
• Find new confidence and self-esteem.
• Find new goals and interests.
• Increase self awareness.
• Hold group meetings for students designed to help with stress.
• Parent group discussion - tea and coffee mornings.
• One to one counselling for children or adults daytime, evenings and weekends.

We have an office and meeting rooms in the University Gateway Building in Southend-on-Sea just off the High Street shopping area where we can offer to accommodate people, alternatively we can travel to the school if such arrangements are more convenient.

Our after class ‘De-stress and Wellbeing group’ for the children is very successful. The kids help and support each other and offer solutions to problems and dilemmas. Once a child knows their situation is normal, worries and stress start to diminish.

If any parents or children are interested in one-to-one or group sessions, please contact Sam at ‘Therapy for Life’ and tell us what you need.

One example of the sessions we offer is:

The after school ‘De-stress and Wellbeing group’ for kids at £5 each for 50 minutes. Especially good around exam time. Knowing how caring parents can be and how helpless they can feel with their own children, this is a solution that relieves so many worries for the whole family.

It can be held at the school or our offices in Southend

Parents pay upfront for 5 sessions at £25 (occurring once per week) for their child to attend. If a child misses a session, it’s no problem, the money carries over to pay for next week. It'll be the best £25 you've ever spent...  to see the difference in your child is magical.

If you are a parent or a teacher, we would be grateful if you sent this out to the parents/carers and teachers at your school to encourage the school to promote it. Your participation will show an immense amount of thought and care towards the parent’s and pupil’s and overall sense of wellbeing at the school you or your children attend.

Please check out our Website and read about us, and view one of our latest blogs:

Parents who feel helpless... the best thing you could do for your child is this