Counselling Psychotherapy with Eli Cookson

05/12/2025

A little something to distress and smile after a long working week…stay grounded.

22/10/2025

The father of resilience! We owe Frankl such a debt. “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he“ Prov. 29:18

Lo avevano privato di tutto.
Della casa, dei libri, dei pazienti, perfino del nome.
Sui documenti del campo c’era solo un numero: 119 104.
Ma Viktor Frankl, psichiatra austriaco di Vienna, continuò a fare l’unica cosa che nessun muro poteva impedirgli: curare l’anima.

Fu deportato prima a Theresienstadt, poi a Auschwitz e infine a Dachau.
Ogni giorno vedeva uomini spegnersi non per fame, ma per mancanza di senso.
E lì, nel cuore dell’inferno, comprese una verità che avrebbe cambiato la psicologia moderna:
anche quando tutto è perduto, la libertà ultima dell’uomo è scegliere il proprio atteggiamento davanti al destino.

Cominciò a parlare ai compagni di baracca, a sostenerli con poche parole, a farli aggrappare a un pensiero, a un ricordo, a un perché.
Un figlio da rivedere.
Un amore da ritrovare.
Un lavoro da finire.
Un sogno ancora possibile.

Molti sopravvissero grazie a quella scintilla invisibile.
Altri morirono, ma con una pace che nessuna guardia poté rubare.

Quando la guerra finì, Frankl pesava poco più di quaranta chili.
Aveva perso la famiglia, la moglie, tutto ciò che possedeva.
Ma portava con sé un manoscritto scritto a memoria:
le basi di una nuova terapia, nata tra il filo spinato e la disperazione.

La chiamò logoterapia — “la cura attraverso il significato”.
Insegnerà al mondo che non si guarisce soltanto con le medicine, ma con uno scopo.
Nel 1946 pubblicò Uno psicologo nei lager, un libro tradotto in decine di lingue.

Scrisse:
«Chi ha un perché, può sopportare ogni come.»

Parole nate in un campo di sterminio, che ancora oggi curano chi si è perso nella vita.

✨
Perché finché l’uomo trova un senso, neppure l’oscurità può vincerlo.

09/10/2025

Prof. Paul Gilbert The Compassionate Mind Foundation on how compassion changes our society. 👏

16/09/2025

It’s been nearly 10 years that I dedicate a good part of my time working online around the globe and face to face, locally from my office, as part of several EAP (Employees Assistance Program). And my take is that today’s employees experience diverse pressures such as global uncertainties, economic strains, increased workloads, and blurred work-life lines because of working from home. Unchecked, these can lead to absenteeism, presenteeism, burnout, and turnover. Counselling offers a confidential environment for employees to tackle challenges, enhance coping strategies, and build resilience.

The business justification for counselling is strong. Research indicates that employees using workplace counselling services return sooner from stress-related leave, exhibit higher job satisfaction, and show improved performance. Beyond metrics, counselling demonstrates organisational care for employee wellbeing, fostering a culture of trust and support.

Workplace counselling extends beyond crisis management. It serves as a proactive tool, helping employees manage stress, resolve interpersonal conflicts, and strengthen emotional intelligence, benefiting individuals and enhancing team dynamics, communication, and workplace culture.

For HR leaders and executives, counselling programs offer insights into organisational issues such as recurring stressors, communication challenges, or morale-affecting patterns. When part of a comprehensive wellbeing strategy, counselling supports individuals and acts as a diagnostic tool for creating healthier, more productive environments.

Ultimately, counselling unlocks potential. Employees who feel supported and equipped are more likely to contribute creativity, focus, and dedication to their work. Let’s promote and maintain a high standard of mental health in workplaces.

30/08/2025

Such a struggle, but so accurate! These cartoons are excellent to help with intrusive thoughts. Enjoy

Have you ever had scary thoughts pop into your head that you just couldn't stop thinking about?

They're called intrusive thoughts, and they are distressing, repetitive and unwanted. They can be triggered by big life changes or mental health issues.

NPR's senior visuals producer LA Johnson, who struggled with these thoughts after giving birth to her second child, talks to mental health professionals about how to manage them. She illustrates her experience and the expert advice in a comic: https://n.pr/4mLaf9q

30/07/2025

🌿 Gratitude in Action 🌿

A heartfelt thank you to those who continue to refer clients to my practice — your trust means the world to me.

As part of my Referral Program, I’m happy to offer a €70 voucher as a token of appreciation for each successful referral. This voucher is:

✅ Valid for 1 year
✅ Transferable to someone else
✅ Redeemable for therapy sessions or courses I facilitate

Today, I’m sending out voucher #00225 with deep gratitude. 💌
If you’d like to learn more about how the referral program works, feel free to reach out!

27/07/2025

Trauma, complex trauma, fight or flight, anxiety (at night)?

You’re extremely tired, so you go to sleep, but your nervous system is caught in a fight or flight mode, pointing to a threat, and your brain won’t stop soaring over endless loops: you experience anxiety, intrusive thoughts, worm songs, even panic attacks as you’re just about to fall asleep.
You reach out for your phone to scroll but also remember what your therapist or your mum said: avoid screen exposure at least two hours before sleeping or you won’t sleep at all! Damned if you do, damned if you don’t…

When being alone with your thoughts proves to be excruciating, the “screensaver” technique can be beneficial : the screen becomes your brain decoy, the movie or show offers soothing and, if familiar, it sends messages to your body that it’s actually ok to relax.

Try a podcast instead: the audio won’t affect you eyes and your brain will be distracted in a healthier manner.

21/07/2025

To all Compassionistas! This seems to be an utter 💎 . Go ´n grab it.

📝Just published! The Handbook of Assessment in Mindfulness Research, edited by Oleg N. Medvedev, Christian U. Krägeloh, Richard J. Siegert and Nirbhay N. Singh

Members of our Research team, Prof Paul Gilbert OBE, Jaskaran Basran, Ptarmigan Plowright and Kelly Morter, have contributed 4 chapters to a new handbook on assessment in Mindfulness Research.

The book offers a comprehensive overview of various methods used to measure mindfulness, including behavioural, cognitive and psychophysiological measures and explores the development and validation of these measures, including statistical methods used to indicate reliability and validity.

The team’s contributions are:
▶️Chapter 3: An Evolutionary and Biopsychosocial Conceptualization of Compassion and It's Cultivation
▶️Chapter 10: The Fears, Blocks and Resistances to Compassion
▶️Chapter 51: Compassionate Engagement and Action Scales (CEAS)
▶️Chapter 62: Fears and Resistances to Mindfulness Scale

Chapter 3 provides a conceptual overview of compassion from the CFT perspective and how we came to measure it. The others focus on specific self-report measures developed by the research team and international colleagues, as well as their applications and translations to date.

Find the eBook here - https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-3-031-47219-0?sap-outbound-id=5B5A5F1A3A153467053896CB837E7186AE69D582

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute.

17/04/2025

Which one of these two is most likely to be you?

17/04/2025

Way to go Robbie Williams!

12/03/2025

Cancer Support Group CSG06 well done!!!

Ce matin à la clinique Plein Ciel de Mougins dans le service de chimiothérapie les patientes ont pu apprécier un concert de harpe! Moment magique dans ce parcours difficile merci pour eux!

19/02/2025

🎗️ We are honored to have been invited to contribute to a groundbreaking initiative spearheaded by La Ligue contre le cancer - Comité des Alpes-Maritimes: the launch of the first-ever Support Care Guide for cancer patients in the region. 🎗️

This guide, which compiles all available support care services in the region, represents a powerful collective effort to ensure that every cancer patient and their loved ones has access to crucial resources and support close to home.

It will be available in hospitals & clinics across the region! 🏥💙

A huge thank you to our fellow associations for making this initiative a reality. Together, we make a difference. 💪💜

Ligue contre le cancer - Comité des Alpes-Maritimes (06)