The Therapist Diaries

Hello there, and welcome back to The Therapist Diaries . It’s been a hot minute since I last wrote something. Partly because it’s summer, and even I like to enjoy the sunshine when I can. But it’s also because there’s been a lot happening behind the scenes at my private practice. I've been busy finding a new office space, organising some exciting new events, and starting to get the wheels turning for our 2027 services. There’s plenty more to share about all of that, but for today, I thought I’d introduce you to an intervention that, quite by chance, I’ve found myself using quite a lot with clients over the past couple of weeks: The Empty Chair Intervention. If you’ve ever watched a therapy scene on TV where someone sits opposite an empty chair and starts talking to someone who isn’t actually there, you may already have a vague idea of what I’m talking about. But there’s much more to the Empty Chair than simply “talking to an empty chair”. The Empty Chair Intervention is a therapeut...

Hello and Welcome Back to The Therapist Diaries, Continuing on with our theme of healthy relationships I want to talk about something I used to talk about a lot when I was running my teen healthy relationship group.... The idea of attachment and when it's healthy to be attached to someone, and what it looks like when it crosses into the unhealthy territory.  Attachment is one of the most natural parts of being human. We are wired for connection, comfort, and emotional closeness, yet many people struggle to understand what healthy attachment actually looks like in practice. In modern relationships, it can be difficult to tell the difference between deep love and emotional dependency. Social media, dating culture, and years of romanticised ideas about “finding your other half” have blurred the lines between intimacy and losing yourself entirely in another person. And this isn't just an issue I see when I work with young people, but adults too!  Many people no matter their age gr...

 Hello and Welcome Back to the Therapist Diaries,  In my last post, I explored Love Languages and how understanding them can help us recognize our emotional needs and set healthy boundaries across our relationships. That post brought up a lot of emotions for a lot of people, and from the response I've summarized the feedback into one question: what happens when two people’s needs directly clash in a relationship, who matters the most? Take the example of a couple who have just had an explosive argument. They're both hurt by the situation. If one partner needs space to calm down and reground themselves before reconnecting to move forward, while the other feels an urgent need to talk things through immediately to stop their thoughts spiraling, whose need takes priority? When meeting one person’s boundary seems to disregard the other’s, what’s the “right” thing to do? Welcome to couples therapy where this exact dilemma shows up every single week. I'm going to give my typical t...

Hello and welcome back to The Therapist Diaries, Have you ever watched the show Married at First Sight? I recently sat down to watch it for the first time and I was instantly hooked. As a therapist, I couldn’t help but view each couple’s journey through the lens of relationship dynamics, communication patterns, and emotional growth. (Much to the annoyance of my boyfriend who just wanted an easy to watch show.) What might look like just reality TV on the surface actually offers powerful lessons about what helps, or hurts, relationships in real life. That’s what inspired this four-part blog series, where I’ll explore key takeaways from Married at First Sight and how we can apply them to our own lives and partnerships. Whether you’re single, dating, or married, these insights can help you build a stronger foundation of connection, trust, and empathy. Today we're going to look at the Power of Self-Awareness Before Commitment and why understanding yourself is the foundation for a health...