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Across the UK, new research continues to highlight a troubling link between teen exam stress , depression , and self-harm . While this is a national issue, its impact is felt acutely in , where families, schools, and young people are navigating intense academic expectations alongside already stretched mental-health services. Exam pressure is not new. What is  becoming clearer is how prolonged stress, especially when combined with misunderstood parental support, can quietly e

If you’ve ever played Candy Crush, you know the feeling. Some days you breeze through level after level, racking up points, collecting bonuses, and wondering why this game ever felt hard. Other days? You’re stuck. The same level. Again. And again. One jelly left. No moves remaining. No bonus coins. No extra lives to save you. Just frustration, disbelief, and that familiar urge to scream at your screen. Life isn’t all that different. We are all playing our own version of Candy

For some people, the idea of love is distorted long before they are old enough to understand what love truly is. From a young age, she believed that desire equalled affection. If a man wanted her, if he touched her, if he pursued her sexually, then that must mean love. It felt logical in a world where no one explained the difference, where attention was confused with care, and where silence filled the gaps that adults should have spoken into. Time and maturity revealed how pr

I never thought it could happen to me. At 42, 18 months after giving birth , I felt a sudden, gripping chest pain. I ignored it for a full weekend , convincing myself it was stress or exhaustion. By the end of it, I knew this was not normal . For the first time in my life, I was truly scared. My thoughts went straight to my children and the reality of them growing up without me. The diagnosis was Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD) a rare but serious cause of heart

If you’ve ever felt like January drags on forever emotionally, mentally, and even physically you’re not alone. We hear a lot about “Blue Monday”  the so-called saddest day of the year often placed on the third Monday of January. But even experts in the UK mental-health space point out that there’s no solid scientific evidence that one day holds that title for everyone. The concept itself was originally coined as a PR idea rather than a clinical finding, and its usefulness is

Mediation is confidential. The following is a hypothetical scenario designed to illustrate how mediation can help families navigate deeply emotional disputes. Family conflict is rarely about a single issue. More often, it is shaped by history, emotion, and unspoken fears. One of the most sensitive situations mediators encounter involves disputes between parents and grandparents particularly when past trauma collides with present-day expectations. The Background In this hypoth

As we step into 2026, full of resolutions, dreams, and quiet hopes for “more,” I can’t help but reflect on a YouTube video I watched recently that completely stopped me in my tracks. It was about a family who won the lottery. Sounds like the dream, right? But instead of upgrading, celebrating, or showing off their good fortune, they did something that most of us can’t even imagine: they locked the door to their home and walked away, leaving it to the elements. And not just an

Let’s be honest, nobody warns you just how much menopause changes your life. I’m nearly 50, and I feel more than qualified to speak about menopause, not only from my own lived experience, but also from my professional one. I’m a counsellor, and I speak to women every single day across the UK who are navigating menopause while trying to hold together their relationships, their careers, and their sense of self. From relentless night sweats and body changes, to mood swings that

Grief doesn’t only begin when a person dies. For many people, grief starts the moment a doctor speaks a prognosis out loud. In an instant, life divides into before and after. A terminal or life-limiting diagnosis creates a strange, heavy form of grief known as anticipatory grief, a grief that arrives while the person you love is still here. It’s grief mixed with fear. Grief mixed with love. Grief mixed with the desperate urge to fix something that cannot be fixed. And it affe

Social Media, AI, and the Mental Health Impact We Don’t Talk About Enough. Every day, my social media feeds are flooded with posts, videos and “advice” that promise to make me happier, calmer, healthier or more productive. And while some of it is well-intentioned, a lot of it isn’t grounded in reality or in any kind of professional guidance. As someone who cares deeply about mental health (my own and others’), I’m starting to question the impact this endless swirl of content

I had my first miscarriage twenty years ago. And if I’m honest, it was my first real, prolonged mental health experience. It was the black dog, the one you don’t shift with fresh air or a brave face. It stayed. It sat with me. It swallowed me whole. I was in a long-distance relationship at the time. He was toxic, but I didn’t have the language or the courage to say that out loud back then. Instead, I created an escape plan. I took a job that involved travel, the kind of oppo

Self-harm, or self-abuse, is a deeply painful and complex behaviour. As a humanistic counsellor, I believe in understanding the whole person their feelings, their stories, their unmet needs rather than labelling or pathologising them. In this blog, I want to explore what self-harm really means, how it affects not just the individual but those around them, and how healing can be supported in a compassionate, collaborative way. What We Mean by Self-Harm Self-harm refers to in

Addiction doesn’t live in isolation. It might begin with one person a brother, daughter, partner, or parent but soon enough, it’s the entire family who feels its weight. When drugs enter a family unit, the effects ripple outward, touching every relationship and corner of daily life. What starts as their problem often becomes our problem one wrapped in fear, shame, confusion, and heartbreak. The Family’s Shame It’s a cruel irony that while the person using drugs is often stru

So here I am smack bang in the middle of midlife. (Because apparently “slow-motion existential panic” didn’t test well with the marketing team.) The body? Oh, she’s changing. Once “toned and tight,” now “soft and mysterious.” My metabolism’s gone into witness protection. I’m rocking a barrel-styled one pack loyal, rounded, and fully committed to carbs. The face? Gravity’s biggest fan. My chin’s started a family of its own. I used to be “desirable and dynamic.” Now it’s more

October marks Black History Month a time to honour the resilience, creativity, and contributions of Black communities across the UK. It’s also a moment to pause and reflect on areas where inequality still persists, including mental health and access to counselling. At Mentaiea, we believe that wellbeing is both a personal journey and a community responsibility. This month, we want to shine a light on the barriers many people from Black, African, Caribbean, and other minority

Complex trauma can leave deep emotional scars. It often stems from prolonged exposure to traumatic events, such as abuse or neglect...

In a world where mental health is gaining more attention, humanistic therapy stands out as a powerful approach. This type of therapy...

In today's fast-paced world, many people find themselves overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, and emotional challenges. The journey to mental...