Reflections

I was telling someone about one of my blog posts the other day and by logging in I realised how long ago it was that I last wrote a post. I’m not one to post unnecessarily and over the last few months I have been exceptionally busy and so I’m going to be kind to myself about not writing a blog. I did start one straight after the EMDR conference because attending the conference always makes me super excited about EMDR...but then other things got in the way and I never completed it.

I’ve decided this blog is going to be a reflection of the last 7 months. It started with work on bidding for a new contract for undertaking psychological risk assessments. This is the fourth contract I’ve bid for (all successful so far) to provide risk assessments of serving prisoners for the purpose of their parole hearings. You’d think having done so many tenders it would be easier now, however each time the process gets harder. However after many a tear and weekends forfeited, the bid was done and we found out in April we were successful. I have a group of great associates working for my company who assist me in providing these risk assessments and I couldn’t do it without them (https://www.louisecoughlinpsychology.com/associatesteams). I am now just at the stage of getting the new contract up and running as it went live this week…another busy period but soon it will be back to business as usual.

I had some lovely downtime as Christmas and New Year and then back to work. I am working with some lovely clients, mainly using Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing EMDR (therapy) but sometimes Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and less often Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). I applied for some online training for ACT to further help refine my skills. This lasted 6 weeks at 6 hours a week but was definitely worth it. Not only did it solidify skills already in place it gave new approaches and insights. Those of you have engage in ACT will be familiar with the audios I give of Russ Harris (as I refer to him, the ACT guru). It was his training I attended, I think I am already mini fan...unfortunately I could not make his in person London training (maybe I need to see him in his home country of Australia and I could see my sister and her family at the same time!).

I’ve also been busy writing risk assessments for parole. Since the pandemic these have usually been online but for these assessments I had to actually go back into real life prisons. Although I spent 20 years in and out of prisons it still felt strange...remembering no smart watch, phone and ID is only half of what I had to remember but I did it and got the assessments completed. Both prisons I visited had nice coffee shops nearby which is always a bonus...although my favourite will remain the Poppleton Social (https://www.poppletonsocial.co.uk/) where embarrassingly I am known by name and coffee order (shout out to Meg who thoughtfully asked, 2 weeks after I bought a cake for someone who had an A level exam on their birthday, how the exam went, and to Simon who keeps me inspired with his triathlon stories). I’m sure I should be on commission as I direct clients there all the time! There is a coffee shop just around the corner from my clinic but the 5 minute drive is definitely worth it. Lovely coffee, gorgeous food and really friendly staff...it’s my sneaky treat...

I continue to supervise forensic psychologists in training which I find super rewarding. I learn from every single trainee in different ways. It gives me joy that I am part of someone’s life that got them to the career they have worked so hard for. I had some great supervisors, and one not so great. I hope I model the behaviour of the great ones.

I love the different strands of my job. At times it can be stressful and I can hold onto things but I have my own wonderful peer supervision group where I can talk through anything bothering me and get some great guidance and I can offer that back. I’m also good at taking care of myself, I keep myself fit, I spend quality time with my family and friends and enjoy playing the piano. I have made the decision this year to take 4 weeks off in the summer. It felt a bit strange at first but my clients have been lovely and welcome the break for me. Some were upset over the fact that I would be unavailable for the summer but maybe for them also a break from therapy will be good too. It is hard work.

...oh and I've also completed 2 half marathons.

I know that the next 7 months will not be as hectic as this one, and at the end of the following 7 months I will have hit the next decade of my life…now there will be a blog!