Aoife Kinsella Psychotherapy

Excited to share I am now seeing clients in Therapy Space East in Shoreditch. Get in touch for further info on availability or if you have any other questions.

This is great!

I heard a worrying statistic from a therapist working in a university counselling service this week. 1-5 students in their campus attempts suicide per week. The stats in this article are equally frightening.

Hello! I've started a Facebook group for trainee and recently qualified counsellors and therapists in the UK & Ireland. If you fall into any of these categories you'll know just how difficult it is to start your career and find helpful information on further study, jobs (paid or unpaid), accreditation etc etc etc. If you're interested, please do join or if you know anyone who might be interested feel free to share.

Let's hope we see real change from this and soon. Waiting times are not acceptable but it's the lack of follow-up care and the right resources for individuals that I see as being the biggest issue.

A very good question! Did anyone make it through to the end of Gypsy? I managed to finish the first episode and had to throw in the towel. It's precisely what I don't want in a therapy-focused drama. Also, no mention of everyone's favourite radio psychiatrist, Dr. Frasier Crane and his equally eminent brother, Niles. For shame!

This is a liberating little piece on Medium. How many of us feel that relentless stress in work or in any other area of our lives for that matter? This whole idea of having all the answers puts us under a huge amount of pressure- what's so wrong with not knowing something? Training as a therapist (who works in a collaborative way) you learn to sit in the "not knowing" and to trust in the process along with your client but, for me anyway, it was a long and uncomfortable shift to feeling confident with not having all the answers. Even at that, this idea of being ok with not having the answer hasn't filtered into all other areas of my life/ work. This article has inspired me though, to try to feel freer in my lack of knowledge and my thirst for learning.

Oh, I love this! This map shows areas of the tube with long stretches of tunnels which may cause concern for passengers with anxiety or claustrophobia. Now, just to figure out how to avoid crowded carriages... (especially in this hot weather 😓)

My kitty is also a big fan of Peter Levine. Smart kitty! Levine is the amazing trauma therapist who developed Somatic Experiencing, a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders. I've been doing lots of reading and study on the method lately. For anyone who is interested in finding out more about it, check here https://traumahealing.org/about-us/#about

Ever try to meditate only to feel worse because you can't concentrate and then you feel more anxious and then your anxiety gives you worse anxiety and.... you know the drill! Try something a little different.

“Which is what therapy does: it gives you another perspective when you are so lost in your own spiral, your own bulls**t. It helps.” Good on Jon Hamm for speaking out about his own mental health issues and for outlining the benefits of therapy in a most eloquent way ;)

What do people think of this? It's unquestionable that mindfulness is en vogue. It's everywhere! It's all too quickly packaged as a solution to so many mental health related problems these days. French Buddhist monk, Matthieu Richard, complains in this article that we are only adopting some of the principles and forgetting probably the most important ones of traditional Buddhist mindfulness. I take his point and agree with some of what he says (the term McMindfulness reminds of a hilarious Frasier quote from Niles when he's mocking Frasier's short radio therapy sessions) but I do still think that some mindfulness- or whatever version of it you are using that actually helps- is better than no mindfulness.

Some light Saturday night existential lols

"Of course we should talk, Of course there should be no stigma around asking for help – that is the absolute bare minimum that humans can do, there should be no applause for basic empathy. So what then?" For the last 4 months I've been seeing clients through the NHS. For patients there is a waiting list of weeks or months for 6 sessions of counselling (sometimes 12 depending of the case). For longer term psychodynamic therapy the waiting list can be 12-18 months and that's if... you're even accepted for treatment. Private therapy is expensive, far too expensive for so many people who need it. Funding is needed, fresh ideas are needed. It's worth mentioning that the NHS service is head and shoulders above what is available through the HSE in Ireland. It's great to see people talking about mental health and long may it continue but we need more from those who can make real changes.
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"I think the hidden world of psychotherapy needs to be opened up. Do people know that modern therapy works? Have we told that to people?”" Preach! 🙌 One of my main goals as a therapist is to help people understand what psychotherapy actually is and to remove this perceived secrecy attached to the profession and the professionals. Therapy should not be a private members' club. Please- if you have questions about therapy and how it can help you, send me a message. I want to help. #mentalhealth #psychotherapy #therapy #talktherapy