News

Bullying affects over one million young people every year, and anyone can be bullied, including adults. It may be a one-off incident or it may go on for a long time. Specific types of bullying include:

• Racist bullying because of your skin colour
• Religious bullying because of your beliefs or faith.
• Sizeist bullying referring to your body size
• Sexist bullying focusing on you being of the opposite sex
• Homophobic bullying based on your sexual orientation
• Cyberbullying targeting you online, often anonymously
• Bullying because you are different

Bullying can make young people feel isolated and worthless, lonely, anxious, angry and lacking confidence. They may experience some or all of these feelings. Some people who are being bullied develop depression, anxiety and eating problems. They may self harm or turn to drugs and alcohol. Problems like these because of bullying, can have a serious impact on the persons health. Ignoring bullying won’t make it go away. You need to tell someone about what is happening. At Asana we have have eight amazing specialists who can help children troubled by bullying and other issues including trauma, abuse, anxiety, self-harm, low self-esteem, depression, eating disorders and more. Click here to find out more. Our therapists can also help adults who have experienced bullying that has affected their mental health, impaired their daily living or eroded their happiness.

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 - by Stress and Anxiety Management Practitioner, Giselle Monbiot - is a simple yet powerful guide to what stress is and how to manage it. Download your free copy here! 

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.

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.

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England has launched best-practice guidance for employers on how to implement Mental Health First Aid in the workplace. This follows the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) recent enhancement of its First Aid guidance to clarify the existing need to consider mental health alongside physical health when undertaking a ‘needs assessment’. Click here to access more information and download the separate guides for employers and employees.

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.

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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Feeling the effects of stress can be overwhelming and can leave you with a sense of being powerless. But the good news is that there is a lot you can do to empower yourself and help regulate your emotions. Giselle Monbiot is a Stress and Anxiety Management Practitioner and shares her invaluable knowledge here, with these 10 Steps to Reduce Stress - to enhance and improve your life.

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.