Paulyne Antoniou – Therapy in London

Understanding who you are as a victim of abuse | In the Interim

An open letter to anonymous victims of abuse,

You don’t want to be a victim. You do not want to be seen as weak, scared and in many instances, doubted.

When dealing with abuse, the first assumption and what is often platformed, is to run straight away to report it. But you will likely find yourself here, reading this – in the interim. And this interim can be days, month or years.

In light of recent discussions in the news, we believe that it is vital that if you are a victim of abuse, that you have the information you need in order to understand what has happened and the freedom to decide your next steps. It’s your experience and your story, it is yours to do with as you wish.

Why every single parent should see the Barbie movie.

My intention when I went to see the Barbie movie was to feel a fun sense of nostalgia for all the Barbie dolls I had growing up.

It certainly did that. I remember vividly my own, poor, battered ‘Weird Barbie’.

What I didn’t bank on was feeling unbelievably emotional. Could this be the ultimate, multi-generational existential crisis movie?

So your child is starting school… What to expect.

When your child is about to start school, there is a lot to plan and think about beforehand. Alongside choosing a school, uniforms, paperwork, stationary, settling sessions and getting them mentally prepared, there is one very important element that is often forgotten about. That is getting yourself, the parent, prepared for this big change.

You’re going to experience a range of emotions which can vary from person to person.

What is the invisible load?

When you become a parent, your workload becomes exponentially bigger. Even through maternity and paternity leave, the load of the parent is consistent and constant.

So when you are thrown into the midst of parenthood you find out pretty quickly that you need to stay on your toes.

The endless mental cycle of the summer holidays

We’re diving headfirst into the summer holiday. In the UK this averages at 6 weeks out of school for children. So what is there to do? And how are we going to manage it all?

As a parent there is a whole range of emotions attached to this impending break for their children. Because for a parent this can feel like anything but a break.

It’s important to remember that raising a child does indeed take a village. It is no easy feat, having the kids home for that length of time is never going to be easy. What you are feeling can be summed up into an emotional cycle that we can all relate to:

Does exercise improve mental health and well-being?

Physical health from exercise and mental health are indeed, closely interconnected to your well-being. Research has consistently shown that maintaining good physical health can very much benefit mental health and well-being.

When you find yourself in a heightened state of emotions, it can feel almost crippling and make it much harder to find the mental and physical energy and capacity to do any form of exercise.