My Psychological Wellness

27/04/2026

Let me introduce myself! My name is Paula, and I am a psychologist who will look after your psychological wellbeing in a beautiful therapeutic setting. Here is a bit more about me 👇

🌿 I am a wife and mother to 3 gorgeous girls and a stepmother to 2 more ❤️

🌿 I have supported adults and children since 2004 and opened my own business in 2023.

🌿 I am a stargazer 💫⭐️

🌿 I love wolves. These beautiful, majestic creatures fill me with awe and wonder.

🌿 I love the Lake District and can often be found up a fell somewhere 🏞

🌿 I'm an adventurer! I have climbed Kilimanjaro and trekked across part of the Great Wall of China, Vietnam, Iceland, and the Canadian Rockies.

🌿 I have written, and published, a book.

🌿 I am a big kid at heart.

🌿 I have AuDHD.

🌿 I have experience dealing with CPTSD, Trauma, abuse, narcissism, grief, anxiety, depression and more.

🌿 My favourite film of all time is The Lost Boys.

🌿 I am a huge Script fan!

We all need someone to talk to; my practice is really cosy. If you think I could help you, please feel free to contact me and book a free, no-obligation, 30-minute consultation so we can have a chat.

☎️ 07342155092
📧 mypsychologicalwellness@gmail.com
https://www.mypsychologicalwellness.co.uk

24/04/2026

When you have an appointment in three hours as a neurodivergent person and feel like you can’t concentrate on the task in front of you, it’s not just daydreaming (unless your plans are super duper exciting, of course! 😅)

Executive dysfunction is part of ADHD and affects some people with autism, too. When you experience it, it means your brain requires more energy and effort to switch between tasks.

And brains naturally want to conserve energy so that they only have to recharge in your sleep rather than on the go. 🧠

A ‘hack’ that your brain thinks it has discovered is preparing you for a task in advance - or entering you into ‘waiting mode’. It sounds good in theory, but it’s a little inflexible. It means that you could be trying to fill in a spreadsheet whilst being distracted by the dread of your dentist appointment later.

So, if you do find yourself stuck in waiting mode, be kind to yourself. 💜

22/04/2026

If you’ve ever found yourself willing a notification to pop up on your phone telling you someone has ‘liked’ or commented on your latest social media post, please don’t think you’re being vain. ❤️

We’ve been taught to believe that when we feel like this, we’re seeking attention. But what we’re actually seeking is connection. 🤝

In psychology, we call this digital proximity seeking, which sounds complex, but it’s really not.

It just means that if we’re displaying this behaviour, we want to stay connected with the people we love and admire when they’re not physically in front of us, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

The key is moderation!

21/04/2026

👏👏👏

Congratulations to the NWAS Choir for their audition on Britain's Got Talent Unseen this weekend.

No spoilers, but we're very proud 🥹

21/04/2026

You don’t have to carry it all on your own 💚

If life feels heavy, confusing, or just a bit too much right now, I offer a warm, calm space where you can talk, be heard, and start to make sense of things, at your pace.

Gentle, confidential support, shaped around you 🤗

www.mypsychologicalwellness.co.uk

20/04/2026

That new coffee table seemed like a lovely project to assemble together… until it didn’t! ⚒️

I feel like a collaborative DIY project always goes the same way - you start off feeling excited about your joint project, ready to go with a spring in your step. But very quickly, it descends into bickering about why exactly they’d put the screwdriver there and mutual frustration with each other. 🤷🏻‍♀️

But that’s not necessarily a reflection on your relationship.

Our nervous systems are known to influence one another, so the minute you begin to feel stressed, your project partner will begin picking up on it and mirroring it until you both end up feeling frazzled together! 😫

It’s part of Attachment Theory, and it’s more commonly applied to children and caregivers, but it’s relevant in any partnership.

So next time you both start feeling inexplicably annoyed at the fact you’re both following the instructions to a letter, take a breath - if nothing else, the neighbours will thank you! 😉

17/04/2026

Ever created a to-do list, only for it to get so long it becomes a trip hazard? 😆

Trust me, I’ve been there too!

But why can something that’s meant to help you become a hindrance?

There are loads of different answers out there, but I look to Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory for my answer.

To feel motivated, we need to feel like we’re making the decision by ourselves for ourselves, and above all, we need to believe that we’re capable of doing it. 💪🏻

To-do lists don’t do this. They become a form of external pressure that you slowly but surely begin to avoid, but just keep adding to because it looks pretty! 😅

Remember, true motivation can only come from within, and it can’t be created by external pressure.

14/04/2026

I really dislike the narrative we’ve developed about being ‘broken’ and needing to be ‘fixed’ by a psychologist.

No matter what you’re going through right now or have been through in the past, you’re not broken. 💜

And what’s not broken doesn’t need to be fixed.

Your past experiences and trauma make you the person you are today, but it’s not my job to erase them.

My job is to help you explore how these events are shaping your experiences of the present without causing you further trauma and pain.

So just remember, there is nothing wrong with you - only things that have happened to you. 🤗

11/04/2026

Is AI generated content a massive form of deception? 🤖

This is the question we’re grappling with right now, and it’s so complicated that I don’t know if we’re ever going to reach an answer we all agree on.

But the beginnings of these answers may lie in Bowlby’s Attachment Theory, developed way back in 1969.

Bowlby didn’t have a crystal ball or a time machine to tell him what life would be like in 2026.

But he recognised two key points that are shaping our relationship with AI:

🌿 We require a secure base (a non-threatening environment) to develop an attachment.

🌿 Our attachments become our safe havens in times of stress or loneliness.

The interfaces of chatbots offer both things intuitively, and their cheerleader attitudes quickly create the feelings of companionship we crave.

This is something that’s great for people who may experience anxiety about responding to communications or creating content. It’s especially great for us autistic folks who regularly spend hours decoding hidden social signals and agonising over how to respond to a message. It effectively becomes a productivity tool that reduces our anxiety. 📊

But here’s where things get a little tricky for me: if we’re using AI to mediate and maintain our relationships with other people, is our communication ‘real’? 🤔

If we’re communicating via text or email, and we’re both using ChatGPT to word our responses, are we really communicating at all, or is it just my ChatGPT communicating with your ChatGPT?

Right now, I don’t have the answer but I’d love to know your thoughts in the comments below. 👇🏻

09/04/2026

Don’t get me wrong, ChatGPT is a great tool, but it isn’t a substitute for a psychologist.

With the uncertain times we’re living in, I totally understand the temptation to reach for something that can provide you with instant answers free of charge.

But psychology isn’t about getting instant answers. It’s about getting to know you and your context - something an algorithm trained on a complex version of the word association game can’t do.

With all the mentions of ‘I’ and ‘you’ in its responses, it’s scarily easy to forget that you’re not chatting with another human being. And that’s where things start to get a little sketchy.

AI is trained to agree with us without challenging our thoughts and opinions, even when we’re saying something that can’t be true. This is known as AI psychophancy. 🧠

If you tell it you’re fine, it will believe you without question because it can’t really ‘see’ you or ‘know’ you.

And that’s not what effective psychology is about. 💚

07/04/2026

Am I always this funny, knowledgeable person who can handle any situation? 👸🏻

The answer is a resounding no… 🤣

What you see on social media is the highly curated professional version of me.

What you don’t see is the version of me that spills food at lunchtime. 🤷🏻‍♀️

And everyone is the same! The digital versions of us only provide a tiny window into who we are and can’t reflect our true selves.

We’re also more likely to feel like we can say what we think online with little fear of the consequences. This is part of Disinhibition Theory in psychology.

So next time you find yourself feeling envious of a friend’s holiday pics or swayed by an influencer (or a particularly witty psychologist 😉) remember that you are only interacting with the version of them they want you to see.

02/04/2026

Happy Easter to all those who celebrate! 🐣

I’ll be hopping away from my desk like the Easter bunny to enjoy a well deserved Easter break, and I won't be back until Monday, the 13th of April. 🐰

As ever, please give me time to catch up with my emails and respond to your query within my working hours.

It might take a few days for me to respond with the care and attention you deserve, but I’ll send you an acknowledgement email to reassure you that I’ve received your message. 📧