News

The recent Mental Health Awareness Week in May was hosted by the Mental Health Foundation and the theme for 2019 was Body Image: How we think and feel about our bodies. For too many of us, our bodies are sources of shame and distress. From an early age, we are bombarded with images that define what an ‘ideal body’ looks like. Sometimes we have faced stigma or cruelty as friends and family have used how we look as a way to put us down. Body image is an issue that cuts across gender, age, sexuality and ethnicity and can have profound implications for our mental and physical health, initially manifesting as a gnawing and sometimes debilitating sense of dissatisfaction with our bodies. The opposite also seems true: the more comfortable you are with your body, the greater your overall wellbeing, and the less likely you are to engage in destructive behaviours. Several of the therapists at Asana work with clients affected by body image difficulties, so if you would like to talk to someone, in confidence, about body image, click on the following names to learn more about the approach of each therapist. 

Dr. Anila George  /  Hilary Price  /  Petar Rodic

The many therapists at Asana may all have their own areas of expertise and specialisms - but, they work as a team. This means that they will cross-refer clients to each other if it is felt that a client's concerns fall better into another therapist's area of expertise. Joanna Benfield, one of our senior therapists, explains how referrals are managed at Asana Health, in the 'Talking Point' section of the April issue of Therapy Today - the voice of the counselling and psychotherapy profession.

'The True Origin of Stress' is a simple yet powerful guide to what stress is and how to manage it from our Stress & Anxiety Management Practitioner, Giselle Monbiot. Stress at work can directly affect your health, productivity and motivation. Once you fully understand where The True Origin Of Stress is created, the positive impact you can start to make on your professional and personal life can be boundless. You can start taking control of your stress today, by downloading this FREE e-book.

Petar Rodic specialises in Addiction Counselling (substance misuse, drugs, alcohol, behaviours, digital) and has previously worked as a Recovery Practitioner for the NHS helping adults of all ages affected by a range of addiction issues. He is an Integrative Counsellor focusing on Psychodynamic, Person Centred and Existential-Transpersonal theories, but can draw on many other therapy modalities to suit the needs of his clients. Another area of focus is Family Constellation work - an approach that goes beyond therapy as it explores life events and traumas in previous family generations that is able to affect the lives of concurrent and future generations, often manifesting as physical illness or disruptive life patterns. Working with and understanding these influences can bring about transformation and healing. Petar speaks English, Russian and Serbo-Croation. Click here to visit Petar's own website and send him a direct message, or call: 07505-104266.

It's real! The design tricks and techniques that keep you hooked on your phone, Facebook, video games, etc. is known as 'Persuasive Design' and it influences the parts of your brain responsible for forming habits and addictions. We all know someone who's fascination with their phone or other gadget has become excessive and is seriously impacting their relationships, work, education, etc. The WHO (World Health Organisation) now recognises gaming addiction as a mental health disorder. So - what can you do? At least learn more about 'Persuasive Design' in this short BBC video. If professional help is needed to help a person combat their addiction, we have the professionals at Asana, like Nicola Todd, who are used to treating habits and addictions. Click the blue links to find out more.

During the recent Children's Mental Health Week we focused on children's mental health and provided links via our Twitter page to resources, blogs and articles to support Children's Mental Health. We also provided access to teaching videos from the BBC on child mental health here.  At Asana we have eight amazing specialists who can help children and families troubled by various issues including trauma, abuse, anxiety, bullying, self-harm, low self-esteem, eating disorders and much more. Go to our pages on help for children here. Go to our pages on help for families here.

Joanna Benfield, our Psychosexual Therapist, has a new article published online for 'Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity', The Journal of Treatment and Prevention - which is The Official Journal of the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health. The article is a study examining the lived experiences of 6 sex addiction therapists who incorporate an attachment-informed approach in their work. The study aims to elaborate key components of an attachment-based approach that could potentially be incorporated into sex addiction treatment strategies for therapists working across different modalities. View the article here. View Joanna's informative website here.

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Cecily Criminale, MS, MEd, MA, MBACP (Reg.), Sex and Relationship Therapist and former neuroscience graduate, steps back into the debate on whether sex addiction 'exists' or is 'out of control sexual behaviour' with her new blog which looks at the scientific method of 'exploring an observable phenomenon'. Read it here.