Linking Pathways

08/12/2025

🧠 When emotional regulation is missing, it’s not a discipline issue, it’s a developmental one.

📚 You wouldn’t punish a child for not knowing algebra… so why expect perfect self regulation without teaching it first?

💡 Kids need guidance, not punishment.

Emotional regulation is a skill and just like math or reading, it takes time, practice, and support to learn.

06/12/2025

Neuroscience News form SFTA

Music and trance: Why sound changes how we feel
Tufts University recently explored how music can help us slip into trance-like states of focus and calm. Students listening intentionally with headphones reported time slowing down, inner chatter quieting and noticeable emotional or physical reactions. The research shows it isn’t the music alone that creates trance, but the right conditions plus focused attention.

🎧 Try it yourself with the Music and Trance playlist mentioned in the study: https://bit.ly/3KqsD9W

🌀 New medical research highlights the power of hypnotherapy
A recent study from the University of Miami found that hypnotherapy significantly reduced severe nerve pain in the eye when drops, medication and even surgery had failed. After a short course of guided relaxation with calming sensory suggestions, patients reported lower pain and anxiety.

🌿 SFTA Hypnotherapy Training
In Solution Focused Hypnotherapy, we use the same principle. When focus, intention and sound come together, the brain becomes more open to change. This approach doesn’t just support emotional wellbeing — it can also help reduce the experience of chronic pain. That’s why every SFTA client receives a relaxing hypnosis track to encourage calm, clarity and movement towards their preferred future, including comfort and relief from pain.

🎶✨

06/12/2025

When a 10-year-old tells us how big feelings feel…
It’s rarely in neat sentences. It’s usually through behaviour, tone, withdrawal, or overwhelm — the hidden language of emotional regulation still under construction.

Behind the shouting, shutting down, or 'attitude'...

Is a child whose body feels too big, too fizzy, too fast. A child who wants to stay in control but can’t access their skills in the moment.

At 10, emotional regulation is still developing.
The brain’s wiring for impulse control and calm responses is growing, but not fully mature. They need our co-regulation, our steadiness, and our presence.

What they show us is communication, not defiance.
Their behaviour is a message: “I’m overwhelmed. Help me feel safe.” When we respond with calm rather than correction, their nervous system learns safety.

Children this age need adults who stay predictable.
A steady tone. Clear boundaries. Close presence. Gentle reminders. It’s these moments that shape how they learn to manage big emotions later in life.

If you’re supporting a child who feels things deeply…
My Managing Big Feelings Toolkit gives parents and educators step-by-step scripts, co-regulation strategies, visuals, and calm-down tools.
Link in comments below ⬇️ or via Linktree Shop in Bio.

06/12/2025

05/12/2025

Introducing Minds on the Mersey 💙

A new men’s mental health podcast, right here in Merseyide.

Each month, we sit down with real people - from creators to ex-athletes, presenters to everyday lads - to talk openly about the things men usually keep hidden
No judgement. No pressure. Just honest conversations that matter.

Episode 1 is coming soon… we hope you’ll join us on this journey.

Because talking changes everything.

Follow us on our journey.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1GVDWw2jEE/

https://www.instagram.com/mindsonthemersey?igsh=cDRjampneW45em53

05/12/2025

A helpful reminder as the holidays ramp up: focus your energy on the things that you can actually control. You can't fix family drama or make everyone get along, but you can protect your boundaries and your peace.

🩷Did this post resonate? There's a whole library of resources (like affirmation cards, self-care assignments, and worksheets!) waiting for you on my Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/SelfLoveRainbow

25/11/2025

DRUG ALERT: Ketamine contaminated with medetomididine

Ketamine in the North West has tested positive for medetomidine, a very strong veterinary sedative. You can’t see, smell, or taste the difference.

This mix can cause:
• Extreme, long-lasting sedation
• Slow or shallow breathing
• Loss of consciousness
• Higher risk of overdose and harm

Stay safer: test first, start small, don’t use alone, look after your mates, carry naloxone, and call 999 if someone collapses or stops breathing.

If you’ve had a bad reaction or a positive test result, please let us know. It helps keep people safe.

Support from Wirral Ways is free and confidential.
www.wirralways.org.uk/alerts

25/11/2025

From the start of January, Jays Bistro will be launching Chris’s Corner every Monday and Thursday evening from 6pm.

Chris’s Corner is a new men’s mental health support network, created in memory of new owner Vicky’s wonderful friend, Chris Ravenscroft, who tragically took his own life in February.

Chris struggled with his mental health and alcohol addiction for many years. He was failed by a system that should have been there for him, but didn’t have the resources or time to help in the way he needed.

To any men reading this: you matter. We’re here, and we want to support you.

Chris’s Corner will be a judgement-free safe space for men to leave any “toxic masculinity” at the door and openly talk about whatever is affecting your life right now. Come to express your feelings, make new friends, discover healthier coping mechanisms, and know that you are not alone.

It’s completely free to attend — free of cost and free of judgement. Tea and coffee will be at the ready so you won’t leave dehydrated.

We hope to see you there. 💙

24/11/2025

✨ Let’s Teach Our Children To Slow Down ✨

In a world that celebrates more—more speed, more stuff, more doing—our children need gentle reminders that peace, joy, and connection live in the simple things.

🌿 Rest is productive.
🌤️ Nature is healing.
💬 Real relationships matter more than screens.
❤️ Contentment comes not from having everything, but from being present with what we already have.

Let’s raise a generation that values stillness, simplicity, and soulful living.

Inspiration for this image by

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