Confrontation is hard … but it is the quality of the ‘repair process’ that really matters

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
Confrontation is hard … but it is the quality of the ‘repair process’ that really matters

Last night we had a bust up in our kitchen.  As I was putting a younger child to bed, I could hear our adolescent children arguing over whose turn it was to wash up.  

They are older now, the voices are louder and more powerful.  

Arguing can be both frightening and exhausting to be around.

For me, arguing triggers me back to my childhood.  

In my childhood experience, my father often argued, particularly when someone disagreed with him.

Read More

How do you make space for intimacy?

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
How do you make space for intimacy?

Our being needs to feel intimacy to repair and grow.  Derived from the Latin intimare ‘impress, make familiar’, from intimus ‘inmost’, intimacy implies a place where we are truly prepared to be with and make known our innermost experiences. 

How do you make space for intimacy in your relationships?

Read More

As the Year Unfolds, How are You Coping with Overwhelm & Anxiety?

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
As the Year Unfolds, How are You Coping with Overwhelm & Anxiety?

With the new year very much underway, this can be a time that we can experience overwhelm and anxiety, as we feel the jolt of our daily life routine, against the relaxed mode of the summer holidays just past.  

This short post is designed to give you the basic elements of grounding, as a first step to coming into present moment awareness.

Read More

Start of the School Year - How to Help our Children with Anxiety?

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
Start of the School Year - How to Help our Children with Anxiety?

Starting and even going back to school can be big time for the little people in our lives.  Equally it can be a big time for us as their parents.

This article is designed to help you know how to support our children through this school transition.

Read More

How you can make the most of therapy.

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
How you can make the most of therapy.

Opening the doors to 'therapy gold'...

Whether you are new to therapy or not, sometimes it can be hard to know how to get the best out of the therapy experience.  This article is designed to help make that path a little bit easier.  Here are some tips...

  1. Be on time ... in fact be EARLY
    • Have you noticed how your therapy hour can take a while to get into on those days that you are rushing?  
Read More

7 mindful steps to finding the right therapist for you

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
7 mindful steps to finding the right therapist for you

Deciding to work with a therapist is often a big decision ... 

And then once the decision has made to seek help, it can be a daunting task to find a therapist that is right for you.

In this article, we identify seven steps to help you find the therapist that is more likely to meet your needs.

Read More

Mothers teach us how to be ...

/ The Grove Counselling/
Mothers teach us how to be ...

Thinking of the generations of mothers... past, present and future... on this mother's day ....

buttered toast and clothes warmed by the fire on a winter’s morning

the pain of adolescence felt

the posy of flowers at my bedside as I nurse a broken heart

long distance phone calls to share news of adventures

Read More

What is my anger telling me?

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
What is my anger telling me?

More than two years ago my father died.  His death was the long slow decline of old age.  It was as if over time his body gradually stopped working.  Over the years and months, we sat with him, shared stories with him, cared for him as the end came closer. 

He planned his funeral nominating music and the party that would follow.  We talked about how he wanted Mum to be looked after. 

But we never talked about how much we would miss each other.  Instead we argued! 

Read More