Relational Best with Amanda Williamson - Therapeutic Coaching

11/11/2025

I went to a gig at on Friday night. This was the third time I’ve seen live and I thought I’d try my hand at writing a review of the experience.

BC Camplight (Brian Cristinzio) sings (and speaks) about his ongoing struggles with severe depression, anxiety and addiction, with honesty, humility and humour. LInk in bio

11/11/2025

I went to a gig at Exeter Phoenix on Friday night. This was the third time I've seen BC Camplight live and I thought I'd try my hand at writing a review of the experience.

BC Camplight sings (and speaks) about his ongoing struggles with severe depression, anxiety and addiction, with honesty, humility and humour.

Life coach, coaching, couples therapy, in Exeter and online with Amanda Williamson Reg MBACP (Snr Accred) EMCC Accredited Coaching Practitioner

30/09/2025

Last Friday, I shared a post about a protest march in Exeter. I posted it here, Instagram and Linkedin. It was written from a place of fear and concern about the rise of scapegoating and division in our communities. Since then, I’ve received a flood of comments; many incredibly supportive, some challenging, and some openly hostile.

Some comments were personal attacks:

“She needs to get a proper job as do those who agree with her stupid post”
“This is rubbish and has no place here”
“Grow up Amanda”
“‘Gripped with fear’ — how ridiculous”
“Silly woman, go and live in China”

While unpleasant, these showed me just how raw and polarised our public conversations have become.

More importantly, some people raised thoughtful critiques, for example:

“By broad-brush labelling and circulating photos of strangers online, aren’t you in danger of contributing to the very scapegoating and hostility you say you want to stop?”

That was hard to hear, but, they’re right. In speaking from fear, my language became “othering” which is exactly the dynamic I am most worried about.

William Galston has recently written about how politics is often driven by “dark passions” such as fear, anger, resentment, which are powerful but divisive. I can see how my post, even if well-intentioned, tapped into those currents.

But Galston also reminds us of “bright passions” such as hope, solidarity, empathy and moral courage. Leaders like Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. drew on these brighter energies, showing that it’s possible to face conflict and injustice without fuelling further division. Something to aspire to.

I don’t regret speaking out about racism and division as silence isn’t an option for me. But I do regret the way I did it, because it risked fuelling the very patterns I want to challenge.

So here’s what I plan to take forward:

- To notice when fear is shaping my voice
- To pause and choose language that invites understanding, not more division
- To lean into the bright passions and remind myself of our shared humanity

I’m grateful to those who engaged in the spirit of civil discourse. You’ve helped me learn.

30/07/2025

🤖Anyone remember the SouthPark Episode FunnyBot?

In this piece I share concern about the direction artificial intelligence is taking and what it could mean for human connection and choice.

Drawing on philosophy and humanistic psychology, I explore how AI risks reducing rich relationships to cold exchanges unless kindness is part of it's design.

We need to call for ethical leadership from those who build, regulate, and use AI, stressing the need for clarity, fairness, and respect for human dignity. Without this, AI risks increasing division, isolation, and loss of trust.

This is not a rejection of technology but a call to steer it by values that hold society together; kindness and compassion as the root of ethics and civilisation.

https://www.relationalbest.co.uk/2025/07/a-statement-on-need-for-compassion-in-ai.html