Black Dog Therapy

06/12/2025

Who is this bleary eyed woman, up at 6am on a Saturday?

This is an ADHD woman having a reset. Who knows that to write that course and to really start pulling all the pieces of her business together she needs both space (away from distractions) and rest.

That’s why I’ve taken myself away from the laundry, the visual to-do’s and my best distraction- my family, to create, to organise my brain and to let creativity in.

It works (for me). My mind is alive and able to prioritise without the noise. I’m in my own bubble.

Yes, I love a spa break but it’s so much more to me. I get to unmask, not be mum, therapist/coach, wife. I reduce the stimulation, the noise, the hurry.

I love water, it resets my nervous system… so pools and water are my self-care

I had a wonderful ah-ha moment thinking through these next steps in my business in a subterranean candle lit cave pool (honestly it was devine) where I floated uninterrupted musing in silence until 10pm..

Then in the comfort of my room I’ve planned my diary for 2026, planning where I’ll add in weekly business development, attend the body doubling (that helps me do the dull stuff) and attend group coaching because it’s often been sqeezed out to make space for my clients.

…and I gladly, wholeheartedly give space for my clients, it’s hands down my favourite part of my working day. I’m just realising, playing with the notion, that if I want to offer more, develop and write that course, to serve more that I’ve got to do it differently.

So, I’m going to stop distracting myself with posting, open my laptop and crack on planning and writing whilst the sun rises this morning and I can then reward my efforts with more spa x

12/11/2025

Great article from ADDitude magazine which talks about much of the work ADHD therapists and coaches provide.

In therapy in particular we share and skill up our clients in what’s called somatic support (EFT/tapping, Havening) and use tools and techniques to regulate the nervous system, processing unhelpful beliefs and stories.

In coaching, we gently guide the client towards their own insights, choices and understanding of their nervous system and their unique brain and the challenges they encounter.

Kate x

“Before I understood my own neurodivergence, I simply thought I couldn’t cope with life as well as others. I blamed myself for being overly sensitive, reactive, or stuck in cycles of burnout. What I didn’t realize was that I had spent decades living with a chronically dysregulated nervous system.”
👉 https://www.additudemag.com/dysregulated-nervous-system-women-adhd/

08/11/2025

Luke just asked if I think this is real?…

Oh YES!!

… was my response. As an Occupational Therapist, every part of wellbeing and daily living is important.

If it’s important to clients it’s important to us.

Did make me giggle though, it may not be top of the priorities but at some point could be an important but sensitive question.

… wouldn’t want to pop the hip out again or risk damaging the joint- I’d listen to your body on that one!!

It’s true for the therapy room too. Always happy to facilitate sensitive or personal conversations.

Intimacy plays a role in mental health, medications can have unwanted side effects on our libido and neurodivergence can bring a whole world of sensory factors to navigate.

Occupational Therapy considers the whole person, so does Black Dog x

30/10/2025

9 years ago I shaved my head for charity

… and it was liberating

I was so far out of my comfort zone

…and when I look back I can see it unlocked something in me

It challenged what I thought I could do, should do and importantly how I wanted to show up

It planted the seed for change, that seed quickly grew into re-training (with a baby under 1 year old) and starting Black Dog…

I dislike being the centre of attention (genuinely mortified) but I’m so so grateful I had the idea to embrace shaving my head…

My hair regrew and with it my confidence, my spark and my business ♥️ ♥️

13/10/2025

Love the graphic. So powerful.

How we feel and the emotions we experience are a central part of our mental health. Conversely how we respond to emotions is critical for our health, mental and physical. While they can perplexing, stubborn, frustrating, annoying, frightening and downright depressing at times, emotions are a fundamental and necessary part of brain functioning. In fact, they are central to being human.

Unfortunately societal beliefs often tells us we shouldn’t have emotions or some emotions are bad. Telling your brain it shouldn’t have emotions is like telling your heart not to beat or your lungs not to breathe, and it doesn’t make your brain very happy.

Emotions don’t always feel nice and can make us want to run away from them. And like any avoidance, short term this seems to work, we feel relieved. But inside your brain is feeling pretty annoyed at trying to hold it all in.

How you respond to your emotions is important. Research shows suppressing, berating and shaming emotions doesn’t help us deal with them at all and just creates more stress and make emotions feel even more difficult.

Naming, validating, expressing and recognising emotions seems to help us process them and help us become friends with them, rather than them having power over us. It seems to soothe those emotions and instead of adding a layer of more stress and difficult feelings, helps us deal with the ones we have.

read more about the science of emotions and how we can help our emotions in my books
📕‘A Toolkit for your Emotions’.
📚 A toolkit for modern life
📖 A toolkit for happiness

27/09/2025

It’s been a busy and productive week at Black Dog.

We ended the working week with our 17th Wedding Anniversay and our daughter’s 14th birthday.

Never was it in the plan, 17 years ago, to leave the NHS and set up Black Dog Therapy

… and yet life steered us beautifully to have a business that fits with family life and that fulfills us deeply.

I love working with my best friend & husband Luke. Happy Anniversary ♥️

Sharing a few wedding and honeymoon (Vegas and Grand Canyon) pics.

Kate x

21/09/2025

It’s been a busy and varied week so I thought I’d share with you our highlights.

Day in Oxford with my business besties after completing Katy Featherstone-Coombes coaching group. Her thank you card was so thoughtful and I loved being with these awesome ladies Swati, Sandrine, Lucy & Nicola. Very much continuing with the support in Katy’s membership The Hive.

Weekend of Silat martial arts training for Luke, he always comes home with lots of reflections and a big smile 😃

Lately we have had an influx of neurodivergent younger adults and teens with suicidal thoughts. We’ve reviewed and tightened our policies and you’ll notice some tweaks in our t&c’s so we can effectively support and liaise with GP’s and other services. We write bespoke safety plans and help bridge that awkward gap when speaking to your doctor as well as reviewing risk and putting strategies and tools in place.

Thank you flowers from a client’s family as they return to Uni ♥️ 🌺 I’m so proud of hard they’ve worked and invested in their own wellbeing.

Lorna loves building Lego flowers so I’ve got all my flowers brightening up our living room ♥️

It’s been full on and my heart is full.

Kate x

19/09/2025

Self-care is so important.

I’ve just had a cheeky night away outside Oxford in preparation for meeting with my business mentor group today ♥️

This for me is self-care. A night on my own to reset and to stand back and get perspective.

Both myself and Luke take time out from time to time to do our own thing, to miss each other, to miss home.

I love to miss him. I love hearing how I am missed.

It’s also given me a focus this week when supporting my clients.

I’ll be honest, it’s not a job, it’s a passion.

I’m passionate about supporting people who are at their lowest, their most vulnerable, when they can’t see the point or can’t see the next step.

And that takes energy. Energy I need to protect and replenish with…

Self-care.

I’m keeping well to keep on supporting others with perspective, with compassion and with a full heart.

Have a beautiful day, love Kate x x x

15/09/2025

What a great opportunity I had to travel up to Carlisle and assist as emotional support person for Nicky Forbes Therapies when she delivered her advanced EFT practitioner course.

It’s always great to bathe in Nicky’s effortless energy and teaching style.

It was a real pleasure being able to share my thoughts and learnings a year on from my own training.

I’m always grateful that EFT and Nicky are part of my journey.

Luke 🙏 #

08/09/2025

Even though I love learning, I love expanding and pushing myself, I always get the ni**le of ‘will I pass?’ and ‘am I good enough?’

I recognise that perfectionism, the overachieving, fear of failure and overthinking as part of my own ADHD

Which is why becoming an ADHD practitioner and certified ADHD coach had been important to me

It’s my validation that it’s not only my late diagnosed, lived experience, that I bring to my clients- it is the hard earned, practiced skill set that says I value education and value delivering quality coaching to those professionals who seek me out

I am excited to see the expansion of Black Dog, which includes Luke firmly in the therapist seat too, and now a coaching branch that is evolving and bringing diversity to our offerings

Much love, Kate x

18/08/2025

Great article on EFT shared by our trainer Nicky Forbes Therapies

Both Kate & Luke use EFT in their client sessions. Luke’s our Advanced, level 3 EFT practitioner.

This approach blends well with other therapies such as hypnosis and we give our clients the tools and know-how to be able to use this outside their sessions, to support their nervous systems in real-time ♥️

Also known as Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), the practice combines acupressure with talk therapy — and some studies suggest it can ease stress, anxiety and PTSD.

16/08/2025

New branding means new T-shirts!!

We love our branded T-shirts, our dog scribble has always attracted comments.

… just as I’ll always cross the road (or even stop the car) to stroke an English bull-terrier; bull-terrier owners will stop us to comment on the logo 😆

Over the years I’ve had many comments that they’ve chosen black dog as the bull-terrier spoke to them..

… fiery protective, loyal, strong willed and determined they are a positive force.