Back to Top

Get my free therapy techniques in your email inbox every week - click here.

Get Free Therapy Techniques in Your Email Inbox Every Week

If you are a therapist or coach of any persuasion; counsellor, psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, life coach, bodyworker, in fact anyone who works in the helping professions, you will glean valuable, actionable ideas, tips and techniques from Clear Thinking, my free therapy techniques newsletter.

In it you'll find a wide range of topics including solution focused therapy approaches, cognitive-behavioural therapy techniques, ideas from DBT, hypnotherapy, counselling and even the occasional philosophical piece. I've been treating people with psychotherapy for more than 30 years and I've drawn what I find useful from many fields. I hope you find it helps you in your practice too, whatever flavour of helper you are.

  • help-hair-pulling-clients

    How to Help Your Hair Pulling Clients

    Trichotillomania is a private but widespread condition, affecting up to 1 in 50 people at some point in their lives. So how can you help the hair-pulling client? Here are five scalp-easing ideas you might find useful when treating this particular type of self-harm.

  • panicky-clients

    What to Tell Your Anxious and Panicky Clients About Their Anxiety

    Anxiety and panic are evolutionary tools, designed to save us from danger. Yet, like any tool, they can be misapplied or even give the illusion of controlling us! So how can we psychoeducate our clients when it comes to anxiety and panic disorder?

  • the-dangers-of-toxic-positivity

    The Dangers of Toxic Positivity

    The world needs ‘positive energy’ and can-do types. But while positivity can be a powerful tool for resilience and mental wellbeing, its toxic counterpart can do more harm than good. Let’s look at why toxic positivity is dangerous and how we can foster a more balanced approach to emotions.

  • rewriting-clients-story

    Rewriting Your Client’s Story

    We all form stories. Human beings are, above all, narrative or story-making creatures. And the kinds of stories our clients tell themselves about their own lives can make all the difference to their happiness or lack thereof. A story is a frame of reality. So how might we help reframe our clients’ limiting self-stories?

  • the-ancient-art-of-letting-go

    The Ancient Art of Letting Go

    We all have to leave things behind. Life, from womb to tomb, is a continual process of grabbing fast what we think will last… and then finding that it doesn’t. So what are the benefits of accepting the passing of earthly things and beings? And what happens if we feel we can’t let go?

  • depression-relapse

    How to Help Your Clients Get Over a Fear of Depression Relapse

    A study found that approximately 75% of individuals who have experienced severe depression harbour recurring fears about its resurgence. Here are some useful ideas to help your depressed clients feel confident about a depression-free, or at least depression-light, future.

  • how-to-help-promote-a-sense-of-purpose

    How to Promote a Sense of Meaning and Purpose in Your Depressed Clients

    At the heart of depression may lie a sense that life has little value or meaning. Once we connect to a purpose bigger than ourselves, suffering, privations, indignities, and difficulties fade. So how can we help our clients find a greater sense of meaning and therefore purpose?

  • radical-acceptance-therapy

    How to Use Radical Acceptance Therapy with Your Clients

    Radical acceptance means fully accepting reality as it is, without judgement or resistance, even if it’s not what you want it to be. It means practical alignment with truth so we can actually do something! So how can you help your clients who may need to develop radical acceptance?

  • trauma-freeze-response

    How to Help Your Client Overcome a Trauma Freeze Response

    When a threat is detected, we always freeze for a moment before we fight or flee. The problem arises when we get stuck in that freeze response. Freezing can make us feel powerless, unable to act, as though stuck in a nightmare. So how do we help our clients overcome maladaptive freezing?

  • defamiliarization-in-therapy

    How and Why to Use Defamiliarization in Therapy

    Emotional problems, addictions, and compulsions of all kinds come to inhabit, then mimic and merge with, a person’s core identity. When we defamiliarize, we are moving the client towards a new way of seeing the problem – and therefore a new way of feeling about it. But how do we do this?