Written by Joanna Williams, Head of Counselling at Professional Help. Anxiety is normal. It is a natural response to a threat, real or perceived; its symptoms are part of our brain’s in-built ‘fight, flight or freeze’ mechanism, and in small doses and in the right circumstance, serves the evolutionary purpose of keeping us alert to…

In these extraordinary and troubling times, a lot of attention is (rightly) being paid to the ‘frontline’ services – those people who can’t work from home, who are working in our hospitals, our schools, pharmacies, food supply chain, postal service and more, to keep the country operating – often at great risk to themselves. As…

Written by Joanna Williams, Head of Counselling at Professional Help. Mention counselling and most people have an idea of what it looks like. Many have experienced it: two people in the same room, the client sharing their problems by vocalising them, client and counsellor working together to find a way through. In light of the…

When we think of talking therapies, we very often think of a series of sessions taking place between client and counsellor, face-to-face in a room, over a period of weeks, sometimes months or even years. As those of us who have experienced this work first hand, in either or perhaps both of the ‘chairs’, can…

It’s January. The excess, the parties, the catching up with family and friends over a bite to eat or a few drinks (or both!) is done for now and many of us find ourselves in the position where we have a few pounds to lose and possibly a few bad habits as well. You may…

I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of my time these days talking about costs. I’m often asked about cost even before I’ve started to explain our services – how we work and what the benefits to our clients are. But “how much does it cost?” (to have a helpline service, a…

By Joanna Williams, Head of Counselling at Professional Help. ‘Prevention is better than cure’. It’s an old adage, and one that we’re now beginning to apply to mental health as well as physical. The World Federation for Mental Health has decided that the theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day should be Suicide Prevention,…

By Catherine Betley, Managing Director of Professional Help and founder of GriefChat. After a significant loss, bereaved people have traditionally been supported by their communities, their religious or social groups and their friends and family. Some 60 years ago, one of the first bereavement care services in the world, Cruse Bereavement Care, was launched to…

I was struck this week by the results of a study, carried out by the University of Stirling and widely reported in the press, that looked at the impact of the death of a friend on mental and physical health. The research found that this type of bereavement can have serious effects for up to…