Accanto Counselling

12/02/2026

How does this land for you today?

When parts seem to feel too much, sense too much.

Does it feel like a double edged sword?

Self is always there. Steady. Warm. Courageous.

19/01/2026

The Therapeutic Fermata🎵

In music, there's a symbol called a fermata. It looks like an eye hovering over a note. It means: hold this. Pause here. Let it breathe. The conductor keeps their baton raised, the musicians sustain the note, and time suspends. Something is happening in that held space, even though no one is playing forward.

This is what therapeutic silence can be.

When I ask a question in session and then... stop talking, I'm creating a fermata. Not an awkward gap to be filled, but intentional, alive space. A pause held with presence.

Here's what can happen in that silence:

Parts that usually get drowned out by the ‘quick response’ manager part suddenly have room to speak. The part that needs time to feel before it can articulate. The young part that's been waiting for permission to emerge. The wise part that knows the answer but needs spaciousness to access it.

The fermata isn't empty, it's full of possibility.

In that held pause:

• Emotions can land before the mind rushes to explain them away
• Parts can sense whether it's actually safe to be vulnerable
• The client discovers their own wisdom rather than looking to me for the ‘right’ answer
• Something deeper than words can be felt and honoured

Why this matters:

So much of our lives is filled with noise, rushing, producing immediate responses. Parts learn to speak quickly or not at all. But healing often needs slowness. It needs ‘the fermata,’ that suspended moment where we're not pushing forward, just... holding space for what wants to emerge.

The therapist's role is like the conductor holding that baton steady, present, attentive, comfortable with the pause. Not abandoning you in silence, but creating a container where your parts can unfold at their own pace.

A reflection:

What parts of you need more fermatas? What wants to emerge when you're not rushing to fill the silence? What would it be like to give yourself that held pause, that spacious moment where you don't have to perform or produce, just... be?

Your parts have their own rhythm. Sometimes the most profound thing therapy can offer is the space to let that rhythm emerge. 🎶✨

05/01/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1ANuR6ey9F/?mibextid=wwXIfr

05/01/2026

The New Year can bring expectation of resolution that disappoints.

Internal Family Systems carries HOPE!

03/01/2026

We don’t pathologise in IFS but this post gives some idea of how our parts might feel when assumptions are made:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DDc5yfStS/?mibextid=wwXIfr

26/12/2025

24/12/2025

This Christmas, I wish you moments of gentle connection with yourself and those around you.

May you find space for ALL parts of you, including those that carry the weight of the season.

You are not alone in your journey.

Wishing you peace, self compassion, and the warmth of being seen and heard.

08/12/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1QnYgKxJjS/?mibextid=wwXIfr

07/12/2025

Here’s a little window of calm for you

A beautiful piece (peace!) of calm:

https://music.apple.com/gb/album/ra-ma-da-sa/1333945160?i=1333945472

06/12/2025

If you’re having a tough day today with lots of parts present, know that it is perfectly normal for parts to react to external pressure in this way. To feel conflicted.

If you can - just quietly notice each one that steps forward. Welcome it. Let it know it’s not on its own.