Daring Greatly Counselling & Psychotherapy

19/05/2024

I have online availability again on Mondays! Please email me at hello@daringgreatlytherapy.com if you'd like to start therapy.

21/01/2024

I have a space available immediately (ONLINE) on Monday daytime, and 3pm TUESDAYS (IN PERSON) becoming available in from Feb!

28/08/2022

Carl Jung wrote that “the greatest burden a child must bear is the unlived life of the parents,” by which he meant that where and how our caretakers were stuck in their development becomes an internal paradigm for us also to be stuck. Frequently we find ourselves dealing with a parent’s unresolved issues. At times we may replicate the patterns of our ancestors, or we may rebel and attempt to do the opposite. Interestingly, antagonism to the influences of parents binds just as tightly as compliance. Either way, antecedents confine and limit us. Perhaps this fact is behind the ancient biblical admonition that the sins of a man shall be visited “upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”

Robert A. Johnson 'We'
Photography- the worn steps on the Great Wall of China. Several walls were built from as early as the 7th century BC. Photographer unknown
www.teallach.com

28/07/2022

“I always loved running. In my twenties, I decided to join a running club to be around like-minded people. After winning a few races among professionals I was hooked and my competitive running career started. I did two-to-ten-mile races and everything in between every year for over 40 years. Also, half marathons, marathons. Since then, I run about 20 miles every day. I am 76, and still out the door at 6:30 every morning. Yet, my greatest competition started only after I retired. I bought this house with all the intents and purposes to start a family here, but I ended up living my life alone for the most part. My mother used to say to me ‘get married Christy, it’s a lonely old life’. I had good intentions to get married. I’m by nature a family man but unfortunately it didn’t work out that way… Before my retirement, I managed a busy life so loneliness could never really catch me. It was only at 65 that my race against loneliness began and it almost ate me up. I used to wake up at night terrified thinking that I was going to die lonely. I often went to a football match, surrounded by thousands of people feeling completely alone. Loneliness is a terrible disease! I heard that ALONE had this wonderful volunteer visitor service, so one day I decided to give them a call. Soon enough, I got approved for volunteer visits which made a tremendous difference in my life. Sean comes to me every Tuesday for the last four years now. We have similar interests, we talk sports and politics for the most part. I consider him a great friend. You see, not getting lonely at my age requires effort and planning. I consciously fill up my days with all sorts of activities. Besides exercising every day, I am active in my community and I regularly visit old friends. If I didn’t have my daily routine and I didn’t make a conscious effort to be around people, I believe my mental health would have suffered much more… People living alone have no choice but to join this race and to get out and make the effort to keep themselves ahead, just as if it was a running competition.”

This post was highlighted by ALONE Ireland. Find out more in the comments section.

02/07/2022

Were you the favorite child, the wild child or the middle child? Jeffrey Kluger explores the profound life-long bond between brothers and sisters, and the influence of birth order, favoritism and sibling rivalry.

18/05/2022

Regardless of where a child is placed in the family, the quality of relationship with the parents has the most formative influence over their future

01/05/2022

01/05/2022

This is a really brilliant article about what therapy actually looks like; it is far from someone with 'bad mental health' getting 'help'. It is two people in a relationship.

"We survive (in the broadest sense) our childhoods by figuring out how to fit into our families, our roles, our small world; we learn about relationships from our parents. We then carry these ways of being into our adult lives where, in many cases, they are no longer useful, or relevant."

Therapy was like finding a key for a door that had been locked my whole life. Here are the nine things it’s taught me

23/04/2022

12/04/2022

Our lives are made greater by positive choices. Those decisions can be difficult to make when suffering from depression and anxiety

23/03/2022

Think being a teenager was rough? Try doing it in a pandemic.